Take 3 on Fresno State loss at UNLV: On controversial final play, ‘Dogs forgot one thing

The Fresno State Bulldogs were in Saturday night’s men’s basketball game with a long shot chance and played the last fractions of a second absolutely right.

But they ended up only with heartbreak and a 68-67 loss at UNLV – a tight game coming down to one play, one call and one shot.

And now, the Bulldogs are 8-16 overall and 4-9 in the Mountain West Conference.

They also dropped to to 1-5 in games decided by no more than three points.

But this one was a bit different, with Bulldogs coach Justin Hutson leaving the court upset at the referees.

Here are three takeaways from the game …

They forgot one thing

Fresno State was down by one with 0.08 seconds on the clock and putting the ball in play from under its own basket.

A long shot was coming from the vicinity of halfcourt, but Hutson added a little tweak that gave the Bulldogs more of a chance.

Freshman Anthony Holland was to inbound the basketball from the baseline, and UNLV put the 6-foot-11 Cheikh Mbacke Diong on the ball.

Getting the ball in play over or around him is not all that easy.

But Hutson set up a play, had Holland run the baseline left and then cut back to his right with New Williams working from the foul line down to the baseline and under Diong to set a screen.

Holland with the screen gets a clear shot to get the ball inbounds.

Maybe, Diong barrels over Williams and the Bulldogs get a call and foul shots.

“Oldest play in the book – got it from my father,” said Hutson, the son of Mark Hutson, a Hall of Fame coach who won a CIF Central Section-record 517 games, most of them at Bakersfield High.

“Diong ran left, then he ran right and he ran New Williams over,” Hutson said. “That’s what happened.”

Williams ended up flat on his back. Diong put him there.

The officials didn’t make a call, though.

Holland got the basketball around half court to Niven Hart, who launched a shot. It was close, but not a game winner.

The one thing missing from the final play: The Bulldogs didn’t alert any of the officials what they were going to run, didn’t tell them to be watching Diong, to be watching Williams, to be watching for a foul.

It would be a tough call – 0.08 seconds remaining, road team with the ball.

Even if Hutson or someone on the bench says something maybe the Bulldogs get it, and maybe they don’t.

The officials had put 0.6 seconds back on the clock after Marvin Coleman banked in an off-balance shot to put the Rebels ahead with 0.2 to go.

Hutson and the Bulldogs took a timeout to set up their play. UNLV coach T.J. Otzelberger took a timeout, reacting to the Bulldogs’ alignment.

Otzelberger even was pointing at Williams as Holland cut back, but the ball was in play, the shot went up and that was it.

“We should have probably alerted them,” Hutson said.

Did ‘Dogs leave door open

Before that final play, the Bulldogs had a chance to extend a 67-66 lead with 39.3 seconds to go.

They ended up with a long 3-point attempt off a high pick and roll from senior New Williams with 10 seconds remaining on the shot clock.

It was off.

Williams was 1 of 7 and 0 of 3 from three in the game, but is one of the Bulldogs’ best 3-point shooters. And over the past four road games, he had knocked them down at a high clip.

Williams went 2 of 3 at New Mexico, 3 of 7 at Wyoming, 2 of 4 at Colorado State and 6 of 13 at Air Force for a combined 13 of 27 (48.1%).

“They were definitely trying to pressure, so what we were not going to do is turn the ball over,” Hutson said. “We were going to spread the floor and play high pick and roll because Noah (Blackwell) had it going and New has been dangerous. New has made big shots.

“New had a good look. He could have maybe turned the corner and got in the paint, but he had a good look. If that goes in, we win. Sometimes, it’s as simple as that.”

On the rebound

Fresno State is the only team in the conference to earn a first-round bye at the Mountain West Tournament in each of the past five seasons.

But at the moment, the Bulldogs appear stuck in the No. 8-No. 9 game next month in Las Vegas.

Coming off a rough home loss to Colorado State in which Hutson benched all of his starters at one point early in the second half, though, they continue to show flashes that they could be a tough out.

Hart followed up a career-high 29 points in that loss to the Rams with 15 points, two rebounds, two steals and one blocked shot.

Orlando Robinson scored 24 points with seven rebounds and two assists.

After a slow start, Blackwell in the second half knocked down some big threes to finish with 15 points with five assists.

“They answered the call a little bit tonight,” Hutson said. “Coming into Thomas & Mack (against) a team that is very athletic, you’re going to have to be physically and mentally ready to play. You can’t come in here without high energy and together. We want to finish off that way.

“Can we take one little step, where we’re getting a few better shots, getting a couple more stops, getting a couple more turnovers out of our press? It’s disappointing for them. When they play this hard, they deserve to win.”

This story was originally published February 8, 2020 at 10:34 PM.