Fresno State playing for first postseason title since 1983 NIT. How the Bulldogs got here 

THE LATEST: Championship game postponed

Fresno State dispatched Southern Utah with ease on Monday to reach the championship game of The Basketball Classic, a 67-48 victory at the Save Mart Center much easier certainly than the task for the Bulldogs’ travel agent, who must now find a way to Conway, S.C., for a party of 25 or so on short notice.

There, the Bulldogs will play Coastal Carolina on Thursday with a chance to win a postseason tournament for the first time since Ron Anderson and Bernard Thompson led them to an NIT championship in 1983.

The home floor? That already is booked for Monster Jam 2022, four big shows over three days; Friday, two on Saturday and Sunday.

But for the Bulldogs, it’s still a big opportunity. “We’re really excited about it,” guard Jordan Campbell said. “After the Mountain West Tournament, we all thought it was over so this gave us an opportunity to play together again and really show people what we’ve got.”

Southern Utah was run over by the Bulldogs (22-13), barely there and not for long. Fresno State, which had a painfully slow start in a quarterfinal win over Youngstown State, led by as many as 18 in the first half and by as many as 27 in the game with a solid defensive effort against a team that had proven it could shoot the ball and score.

“Very impressed with our focus,” coach Justin Hutson said. “That team is a very good offensive team. All three of these teams that came in here were very good offensive teams, Mountain West-caliber offensive teams. Maybe not defensive teams, but offensive teams. They averaged 79 points a game, had a hard time getting to 50 and that was because of our focus.”

The Thunderbirds (23-12) had hit 46.5% of their shots and led the Big Sky Conference in scoring at 78.6 points per game. Against the Bulldogs they were 19 of 61, a season-low 31.1%. The 48 points also were a season-low.

Fresno State at the other end sliced up Southern Utah, and the best thing about it and The Basketball Classic has been the development of pieces around Orlando Robinson. The 7-foot forward played through some foul trouble, but still scored 20 points with seven rebounds, three assists and three steals in just 27 minutes on the floor.

But the Bulldogs got solid minutes from Leo Colimerio, point guard Isaiah Hill and Campbell, who matched a season-high with three 3-pointers in scoring 11 points. They again got some solid minutes off the bench from center Braxton Meah and from guard Destin Whitaker.

Bulldogs get big minutes from Meah, Whitaker off bench

Meah had lost playing time during the middle of the season to freshman Robert Vaihola and logged less than 10 minutes in 21 of his 30 games, but had six points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes against Southern Utah and is averaging 10.0 points and 6.0 rebounds over the past two games.

Whitaker, who was hitting 33.3% of his shots from the 3-point line and had only 11 makes in 22 regular-season games, was 3 of 4 in scoring nine points against the Thunderbirds and now 7 of 11 in the tournament.

“It’s great for them and it’s great for us,” Hutson said. “That’s why you do it. We’re excited for them and we’re excited for us.

“For a lack of a better word, we’re building it. We had a little interruption with the APR stuff the first and second year and then the COVID stuff the third year with 12 wins without a preseason and new guys. But we’re excited for what we did. We’re not satisfied. We understand we left a lot of close games on the L side, but those teams did some good things to beat us. All we can do is learn from it, and I enjoy our guys’ energy.”

But it all circles back to Robinson. His usage percentage was in the 40s four games in a row at the end of the regular-season and in the Mountain West Conference Tournament with a high of 48.3 at Wyoming. But he has had more help in The Basketball Classic, victories over Eastern Washington, Youngstown State and Southern Utah. And, three more games at the Save Mart Center before deciding if he will take an early entry into the NBA Draft.

“It felt great, just being able to perform in front of Fresno,” Robinson said. “I love Fresno and just to be able to play with my team is a great feeling so these games and this tournament is a blessing.”

This story was originally published March 28, 2022 at 11:07 PM.