Fresno State resets its offense, taking advantage of its biggest assets in win at Air Force

Fresno State snapped a four-game losing streak with a 65-40 victory at Air Force on Tuesday, taking advantage of its size around the basket with Orlando Robinson, and coach Justin Hutson pairing the 7-footer at times with the 7-1 Braxton Meah and the 6-8 Robert Vaihola in building a lead.

Robinson went for a game-high 26 points, his shot chart just layup after layup with a paint jumper and a paint hook mixed in there. He was 8 of 12, and 10 of 11 at the foul line. Meah was 2 of 2 in scoring four points with a career-high eight rebounds and Vaihola was 1 of 2 in scoring two points.

The Bulldogs’ bigs were a combined 11 of 16 (68.8%), and playing Robinson with Meah or with Vaihola came with a fringe benefit at the defensive end.

“We tried to play a little bigger against this team because we knew our advantage was inside, which also was going to help us play a little zone so we didn’t have to guard that Princeton offense for 40 minutes on just a day and half of prep time,” Hutson said.

It might also have provided a blueprint for the final three games of the regular-season for Robinson, who had struggled with his shot in the past two games, going 3 of 14 (21.4%) in scoring seven points in a loss to UNLV and 3 of 10 (30%) in scoring nine points in a loss to San Diego State.

The 11 foul shots tied a career-high, and that free throw line can be more than just an occasional friend.

Among the top six scorers in the Mountain West Conference, the Bulldogs’ forward has been to the line nine of more times just three times this season and 10 times in 81 career games – Wyoming forward Graham Ike, by comparison, has taken nine of more foul shots nine times in 25 games this season with a high of 17 in a non-conference victory over Denver.

“I think I need to stop looking for fouls – I think that’s my mentality at times, rather than going through a lot of contact,” Robinson said. “I’ve been fading away and hitting those tough shots, which I’m capable of hitting. But sometimes you just need to go through the defense and just look for that contact.

“I endure a lot of contact. I think I’m going to start dishing it out more.”

Bulldogs’ Robinson and free points at foul line

There were other signs of a reset at the offensive end for the Bulldogs, who moved the ball, found good shots beyond the paint where they were 14 of 18 on layups and dunk and knocked down some of those shots. That was not happening much in that losing streak – the Bulldogs had hit just 35.7% of its shots including 23.7% at the 3-point line in losses to Wyoming, at Colorado State, to UNLV and to San Diego State.

Fresno State had 15 assists on 23 made baskets, its highest assisted basket percentage this season. And, dominating inside, it didn’t flail away on as many threes as it had in that losing streak.

“We played a lot of really good defenses and they held us accountable on a lot of things,” said Robinson, who had 20 or more points in a game for the 12th time this season and the 20th time in his career.

“Coming out here and being able to take advantage and get good shots and see the ball go in, that was good for us. Moving forward, we’re looking forward to playing these defensive teams, and we’re going to finish better. As a team, we have to collectively flow together, including myself. We have to figure out what that prescription is, what we need to do to flow and be better and just do that every possession as much as we can.”

Air Force, which has lost eight games in a row, had few answers at either end of the floor.

Fresno State, which finishes the season against New Mexico on Monday and then with games at San Diego State and at Wyoming, hit 15 of 20 shots in the second half and was 23 of 40 in the game (57.5%).

Bulldogs notes

The Falcons’ 40 points were the fewest allowed by Fresno State this season. Air Force hit just 15 of 50 shots (30%) including 7 of 28 from the 3-point line (25%) and had nine turnovers. The loss was its eighth in a row. Guard A.J. Walker had an interesting stat line: 0 of 9, 0 of 5 from three with no rebounds and no assists in 22 minutes. Walker did have one foul and one steal, playing to a plus/minus of minus-28. …

Point guard Isaiah Hill scored all 15 of his points over the final 20 minutes, hitting 6 of 9 shots including 3 of 5 threes with one assist. In the first half, Hill was 0 of 1 with three assists.

Fresno State was plus-20 rebounding the basketball, with 35 rebounds to the Falcons’ 15. …

Up next: Fresno State vs. New Mexico

When: Monday, 7 p.m.

Where: Save Mart Center

TV: FS1

• Find it fast: AT&T Uverse (652, 1652), Comcast (408, 731, 1208), DirecTV (219), Dish Network (150).

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 (17-10, 7-7 in the MW), New Mexico (11-17, 3-11)

The Lobos: New Mexico lost 81-56 on Tuesday at Utah State and before that lost on Sunday at San Jose State 71-55, the Spartans’ first Mountain West Conference victory of the season. Even on the road, that’s not a good loss, obviously. The Lobos have a solid guard duo on Jaelen House and Jamal Mashburn Jr., but they were a combined 9 of 29 (31%) against the Spartans and New Mexico as a team hit just 34.5% of its shots including 28.6% from the 3-point line. New Mexico will play Air Force at home on Saturday before taking on the Bulldogs.