Fresno State, scoring like it’s in a bygone era, loses fifth in a row

The Fresno State Bulldogs dropped a fifth men’s basketball game in a row on Thanksgiving and this one, a 67-59 loss to Vanderbilt at the Wooden Legacy at the Anaheim Arena, came with a bit of history.

It was the fifth game in a row the Bulldogs have scored 60 points or less, something they have not done since the 1982-83 season when Boyd Grant was the coach and there was not yet a 3-point shot or a shot clock in college basketball.

That is where Fresno State (1-5) is at the moment, a poor-shooting and turnover-prone team. But the Bulldogs did perhaps get a glimpse of a brighter future against the Commodores in guard Jemarl Baker, who scored 22 points with seven assists. More intriguing, the 6-foot-4 guard, who has been playing with a balky knee, played 35 minutes one night after playing 32 in a loss to Washington in the Bulldogs’ opening game of the tournament.

Baker early in the season was to be monitored closely, and is, but he was able to be on the floor down the stretch when the Bulldogs again faltered in what was a close game.

The Bulldogs, who get some time to regroup and do not play again until Dec. 3 at UC Irvine, were down by just one point at 56-55 with four minutes to play. They went up on a pair of foul shots by center Eduardo Andre coming out of the under-4 timeout, but Vanderbilt went on a 9-0 run to gain control.

Fresno State hit just 1 of its final 7 shots, and during the five-game losing streak has made just 21.1% (8 of 38) of its shots in the final four minutes with four turnovers.