Fresno State men, women, take down Fresno Pacific, but both had to work to get first wins
Fresno State and the jump shot are not always the best of friends, which was evident, again, through the first part of a 69-56 men’s basketball victory over Division II Fresno Pacific on Monday at the Save Mart Center.
The Bulldogs (1-0), eighth of 11 in the Mountain West Conference at the 3-point line last season, found themselves in a 15-point hole in the first half, settling or getting deep into the shot clock and missing shot after shot. They fired away, 15 of their first 21 shots either jumpers or threes.
Just two went down, the other four made baskets through that stretch coming at the rim on layups or dunks.
They climbed back in it, forcing some turnovers, beating the Sunbirds off the dribble and in the paint. But they were extended for 40 minutes by a Division II team that had 24 turnovers, the most by a Bulldogs opponent since New Mexico managed to beat them with 24 turnovers in 2016.
“Good comeback in stretches, soft in other stretches,” coach Justin Hutson said. “Didn’t get much on the defensive end out of our bigs, our guards got blown by a little bit early on a team I have much respect for, but we’re going to play a lot tougher teams than that.
“It’s a gut check on some of those things. Leadership, leading by example, not being offensively sensitive. Be tough enough to get down and get a stop and when you’re tough enough to get down and get a stop then you see we have some talent. I saw some jittery and some nervousness from guys that have played a lot of minutes. We have a lot to build on, and a lot of work to do.”
Center Isaih Moore had a double-double in his Fresno State debut, scoring 19 points with 10 rebounds. But critical in there also was point guard Donavan Yap, who has a chance to carve out a much bigger role after playing just 10 minutes per game a year ago.
Yap helped lead the Bulldogs back and when they finally got clear with a 14-0 run in the second half, getting the ball to the rim and to the foul line.
The 6-3 guard scored five points in a row in that run, all on free throws.
“I was just saying at the time, Coach believed in making a play and it happened to work so we went back to it and they just kept fouling,” said Yap, who finished with 12 points, five assists, two steals and just one turnover in a career-high 32 minutes.
Hutson started Yap in the backcourt with Jemarl Baker and point guard Isaiah Hill, who struggled, hitting just 1 of 6 shots and going 0 of 3 from the 3-point line in scoring five points with five turnovers.
That will continue to be something to explore for the Bulldogs, who play UC Santa Barbara on Friday in Santa Cruz.
“He’s learning,” Hutson said of Yap. “Sometimes he attacked and saw the floor and made some great plays and sometimes he deferred and you’re wondering what he was thinking.
“I’m sure he’s going to get better and better and better as that goes. I think the world of ‘Dono.’ He had the three or four plays that he made great in a row, I expected. The three or four plays where I don’t know what he was thinking, I’m hoping to eliminate those.”
The Sunbirds, who played the game as an exhibition, open their season on Friday against Cal State East Bay. If they had taken better care of the basketball the drive home down Chestnut Avenue could have been much different.
Forward Spencer Heimerdinger, the Buchanan High grad, hit 4 of 7 threes and led Fresno Pacific with 15 points. But the Sunbirds had more turnovers to made baskets, 24 to 21, and the Bulldogs scored 21 of their points off those turnovers.
FRESNO STATE WOMEN 66, FRESNO PACIFIC 49
The Bulldogs struggled at the offensive end, but scored 28 of their points at the foul line knocking down 77.8% of their free throws in a 66-49 victory.
Fresno State, picked to finish ninth in the Mountain West in a preseason poll, had won its three matchups against the Sunbirds by an average of 36 points including a 90-51 win in 2018 in their most recent meeting.
The Bulldogs’ largest lead in this one, 21 points late in the fourth quarter.
Guard Amaya West hit just 1 of 8 shots, but was 9 of 9 at the foul line in scoring 11 points. Franka Wittenberg led the Bulldogs with 12 points and Amiee Book and Yanina Todorova also had 11 points.
Fresno State (1-0) hit just 36.7% of its shots (18 of 49) and were just 10 of 22 at the rim on layups. The Bulldogs also were 2 of 10 at the 3-point line and had only five assists with 13 turnovers.
Fresno Pacific was led by Sara Lundqvist, who scored nine points. Maesyn Rix had six points with a game-high 13 rebounds.
Fresno State next plays Bakersfield on Friday at the Save Mart Cener. The Sunbirds, picked to finish seventh in the PacWest Conference in a preseason poll, open against Chico State on Friday at Dominican University.
This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 7:16 AM.