Fresno State falters, for one minute, and that was enough for Nevada to take down Bulldogs

Fresno State coach Justin Hutson was looking for more confident stretches at the offensive end, for longer periods of time. Winning basketball, he called it.

But there was very little of that in an indecisive and ultimately decisive stretch in the second half of a 77-73 loss at Nevada on Friday night at the Lawlor Events Center when turnovers fueled a Wolf Pack run and a lead that ended up just large enough to be out of reach for the Bulldogs, who had a three-game winning streak working.

“You have to take hats off to Nevada. They were coming off some losing streaks, great coaching staff, good players, came out ready to play,” Hutson said. “We were up for the challenge early and when they upped their intensity in the second half, we needed to up ours.

“We needed to play winning basketball – take care of it, rebound it, defend it and generate good shots and we just weren’t up for the challenge during that stretch and that’s disappointing.”

The Bulldogs (13-5, 3-2 in the MW) let it get away quickly, a lead that was as many as nine points in the first half down to one at the break and then, poof, gone.

But it didn’t get away until the 12-minute mark, when a poor pass from point guard Isaiah Hill was stolen by Desmond Cambridge Jr., leading to a layup and a foul and a 53-47 Nevada lead.

That was followed by a turnover by Orlando Robinson, and another Cambridge steal and layup.

Junior Ballard, who had hit only 5 of 20 threes away from the Save Mart Center, then missed another one and Wolf Pack guard Grant Sherfield knocked one down at the other end to put Nevada up 59-47.

The Bulldogs’ deficit went from four points to 12 in just 54 seconds.

“They amped up their pressure and got out in the passing lanes a little bit and we didn’t do a very good job of handling it, and that’s all it takes,” associate coach Tarvish Felton said. “One run, especially against a good team, and it can get away from you and it did. We kind of got the ship righted a little bit and tried to make a game of it down the stretch, but that’s all they needed, they needed that one little run.”

Hutson said they would watch it, work on it and get better, but it was difficult to pinpoint any one thing when so many were going the wrong way.

“I just thought when the going got tough that was our time to step up and I have to give credit to Nevada for stepping up and making winning plays in basketball and we all understand what that is,” Hutson said. “I thought we had a lot of self-inflicted wounds during that stretch. No disrespect to Nevada, but I thought we had a lot of self-inflicted wounds and that was disappointing.

“But every game is an opportunity for a learning experience, right? There’s no question, and you watch this game and we did a lot of things right. You talk about a team (Nevada) that’s picked to win the conference and has so many returners back and then we’re on the road, taking their best shot. We did a lot of things right out here, but we just did not finish and play the 40 minutes that it was going to take to win this game here.”

The road plays into it, the crowd. The Bulldogs are 9-0 at the Save Mart Center, but just 2-5 in true road games and play next on the road at New Mexico.

Home or road, though, it is difficult to win with the 16 turnovers Fresno State committed against the Wolf Pack (9-7, 3-2), the second-most they have had in a game this season. The past three games, the Bulldogs have turned it over an average of 14.7 times. The three games before that, they turned it over an average of 5.7 times.

Bulldogs notes

Robinson had his fourth double-double in a row and sixth this season, scoring 26 points with 12 rebounds. He also had four assists. In that four-game stretch, he is averaging 23.0 points and 12.0 rebounds. …

Guard Deon Stroud, who scored 14 points off the bench in the Bulldogs’ victory over Utah State on Tuesday, struggled in a rough 16 minutes on the floor. He was 1 of 9 including 1 of 8 at the 3-point line and had three turnovers. …

Nevada had 13 steals, the most against the Bulldogs since UC Santa Barbara had 13 in beating Fresno State 69-54 on Nov. 20, 2010. The Wolf Pack scored 14 of their points off turnovers. …

Up next: Fresno State at New Mexico

When: Tuesday, 6 p.m.

Where: The Pit, Albuquerque

Streaming: Stadium

Radio: Bulldog Sports Network (Paul Loeffler, Marc Q. Jones)

• Find it fast: Fresno (AM1340), Bakersfield (AM970), Visalia (AM1130), Modesto (FM92.9), Stockton (AM1280), Bulldogs app, iHeartMedia app

The records: Fresno State (13-5, 3-2 in the MW), New Mexico (7-11, 0-5)

The coaches: Justin Hutson (59-45 in fourth season); Richard Pitino (7-11 in first season, 166-148 overall)

The Lobos: New Mexico plays at Wyoming on Saturday, looking for its first win in conference play. The Lobos have dropped five games in a row and seven of eight. They have lost their five Mountain West games by an average of 11.0 points, allowing 81.0 points per game, but their two conference home games have been closer. New Mexico lost to Utah State 90-87 in overtime and to Boise State 71-63 on the home floor. The top two scorers are guards, Jamal Mashburn and Jaelen House. Mashburn is averaging 17.7 points per game, House 16.0.