Fresno State basketball goes two overtimes during thrilling Mountain West opener

Fresno State had not been shy about letting it fly behind the arc, whether it was a good shot, bad shot or anywhere in between during its first six games.

The Bulldogs went into their Mountain West Conference opener against UNLV on Wednesday taking the highest percentage of shots from the 3-point line in the nation at 52.9% against Division I opponents.

At times, they had shot their way out of games.

Against the Rebels they shot their way back in, but then back out, blowing chance after chance in an 81-80 loss in double overtime at the Save Mart Center.

“Saw some good things, saw some bad things, but we didn’t make the plays at the end that we needed to make, especially at the defensive end,” coach Justin Hutson said.

Fresno State (2-5, 0-1 in the MW) started the game hitting only 1 of 12 shots including 1 of 9 from the 3-point line. It recovered, but down the stretch the Bulldogs could not land a knockout blow even with the Rebels struggling to make a shot, going just 1 of 12. In that stretch of more than 10 minutes, Fresno State got a lead, but could push it to just four points at 58-54 with 3:27 to go.

UNLV stayed in it, crushing the Bulldogs on the boards 51-36 with 18 offensive rebounds and getting huge games from Donnie Tillman and Bryce Hamilton.

Tillman scored a game-high 28 points behind a 13-of-19 performance from the free-throw line and added eight rebounds. Hamilton provided 21 points, 14 rebounds and four assists.

The Rebels scored 21 second-chance points off their offensive rebounds, 16 coming in the second half.

In the first overtime, Fresno State had chances, but couldn’t get even or away when given a chance at the foul line.

The Bulldogs went to the line four times in the final 2:48 and made just one of two free throws every time – Orlando Robinson, then Nate Grimes, then Noah Blackwell, then Blackwell again.

Fresno State had hit 16 of 20 foul shots in regulation.

“Those things are tough,” Hutson said. “You get separation making foul shots. You go down and you work as hard as you can on the defensive end and then you get a miss and they just come over and get it from you.”

Fresno State still had a chance, the score tied at 72 with 10 seconds to go. Grimes rebounded a missed foul shot, pushed it to Blackwell. But the senior turned it over with an ill-advised lead pass up the floor.

“I saw that he was wide open and it just slipped out of my hand when I passed it,” he said. “I shouldn’t have passed, though. Stupid turnover.”

Then in double overtime, the Bulldogs missed their first four shots, all from the 3-point line, and quickly fell into a five-point hole.

They were 2 of 9 on 3-pointers in the second overtime and finished the game 14 of 42 (33.3%), just two attempts short of the school-record 44 against Cal State Northridge in the 1999-2000 season.

“We have to look at some of the film, look at what we did good and bad and then just move on from here because we have another game on Saturday (at Utah State),” said Blackwell, who led the Bulldogs with 18 points and also had two assists. “Just get focused and ready for that.”

Fresno State had a chance to tie the score with 14.1 seconds remaining in the second overtime, but Williams missed from three.

Grimes, who had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds, pulled the offensive rebound and followed to get to 81-80 with two seconds remaining.

But UNLV got the ball inbounded against the press and ran out the clock.

This story was originally published December 4, 2019 at 11:09 PM.