Bulldogs, looking like a different team, pull off biggest win of season with showing at UNLV

Fresno State pulled off its best men’s basketball win of the year on Wednesday at UNLV, taking care of the basketball, knocking down threes, hitting its foul shots, defending and making plays through critical stretches in the second half.

The Bulldogs did just about everything they usually don’t do well and were rewarded for their effort with a 67-64 victory at the Thomas & Mack Center, coming from as many as seven down in the final 15 minutes.

“I thought we stuck together,” Bulldogs coach Justin Hutson said. “I thought we stuck together and when it was time to make big plays we made a few. They made a few, also, but we responded.

“I really liked our response tonight and I like how we played down the stretch.”

The Bulldogs (10-9, 8-9 in the MW) had a season-low six turnovers – their low had been nine in a victory over San Jose State, which was the only time they had less than 10.

They were in 10th in the Mountain West Conference in 3-point shooting, but made 10 threes Wednesday and hit a higher percentage of their 3-pointers (10 of 27) than from inside the arc (10 of 28).

Fresno State, also 10th in the Mountain West in free throw percentage, had a big edge at the foul line. With point guard Isaiah Hill going 8 of 9 at the line in scoring a career-high 19 points with seven assists, the Bulldogs finished 17 of 23 at the line while the Rebels went 9 of 13.

Deon Stroud added 18 points for the Bulldogs, making some big shots including a jumper with 1:22 to go that put the Bulldogs up 62-61 and a layup off an assist by Hill with 35 seconds to go that put them up 64-61.

Jordan Campbell, who was yanked after missing a poor shot from the 3-point line in the first half, also played large for the Bulldogs, who had racked up eight of their first nine wins this season against 6-14 New Mexico, 5-17 Air Force, 5-15 San Jose State and non-Division I opponents Fresno Pacific and William Jessup.

Hutson put Campbell back into the game with 14:41 to go, the Bulldogs trailing by seven and trying to find an answer for UNLV guard Bryce Hamilton, who hit seven of his first 11 shots in scoring 16 points.

With Campbell defending it took the Rebels’ leading scorer almost eight minutes to get to 20. Hamilton, third in the Mountain West averaging 18.7 points per game, went through a stretch where he was 1 of 7 with one turnover.

“He is athletic. He is strong,” Hutson said, of the Bulldogs’ guard. “We felt we needed some spark off the bench. We weren’t playing as well as we needed to at the offensive end and we put in a little spark off the bench and said, ‘OK, now we can put another guy on him who is athletic,’ and I wanted to see if he could guard him.

“I wanted to see if he would fight. We had young guys out there. I know a few guys are going to fight. I wanted to see if Jordan was going to fight and I was very proud of that, because he affected winning on that end.”

Hamilton did get hot again, after he was fouled by Anthony Holland with 3:39 to go. He hit a pair of foul shots, then a quick three and a contested jump shot that gave UNLV a one-point lead with 1:44 to go. Hamilton finished with 27 points.

But the Bulldogs had answers. Stroud put the Bulldogs back in the lead with a jump shot and after Hamilton missed a three at the other end, Orlando Robinson secured the rebound, his sixth.

Stroud then extended the lead, scoring off the assist by Hill, giving the Bulldogs something to build on heading into a rough stretch of games to end the regular season. They play the second of this two-game series at UNLV (10-12, 7-8) on Friday, and the Mountain West rescheduled games at Boise State and against Utah State that were postponed due to COVID-19 for next week. The Broncos are in first place in the conference, the Aggies fourth.

“It gives us some confidence going into these last regular-season games into the tournament,” said Hill, who along with Robinson logged 40 minutes on Wednesday against the Rebels.

“We’re very confident. We know we can win games, we just have to put all the pieces together as a unit on the offensive side of the ball and the defensive, but tonight was a great win.”

This story was originally published February 24, 2021 at 11:06 PM.