Fresno State men’s basketball: Bulldogs don’t beat zone, but do beat Air Force

Fresno State was turned into a jump-shooting team Saturday afternoon, which was not its ideal. The Bulldogs had hit only 32.6 percent of their shots from the three-point line, no better than ninth of 11 in the Mountain West Conference.

But faced with 40 minutes of Air Force and its switching zone defenses, the Bulldogs struggled to get paint touches and continually settled for jumpers and in a 56-55 victory eventually were saved by two staples – a defense that can force turnovers and their offensive rebounding.

The winning points came on the latter, forward Torren Jones following a miss by Julien Lewis with 5 seconds to go. And they got plenty on the former, 17 Air Force turnovers turning into 28 points.

“It’s kind of relief,” senior guard Cezar Guerrero said, “but we get to go home happy now.”

The final minutes were not easy ones for Fresno State (13-7, 4-3 Mountain West), going scoreless for 6 1/2 minutes between a three-pointer by Marvelle Harris with 7:02 to go and another three by Guerrero with 32 seconds remaining that put the Bulldogs up 54-52.

The Falcons came down and Zach Kocur knocked down a three from the left corner to put Air Force back into the lead.

There were 21 seconds to go, down one, and with three seniors on the floor coach Rodney Terry let them go.

The Bulldogs pushed the ball and Lewis missed a short jumper right of the rim, but Jones was there with the follow on the Bulldogs’ 11th offensive rebound. It was the last of some very big plays by the junior forward, who finished with 14 points, hitting 7 of 10 shots, and also had eight rebounds and four steals that led to easy Fresno State baskets.

“Those were big plays,” Terry said. “We really tried to coach up our guys in guarding that Princeton offense to stay between their man and the basket because they really put a lot of pressure on the basket, but that was a player out there making plays instinctively and playing the game.”

Those points off steals and turnovers were vital – of the 18 points Fresno State scored in the paint, 12 came off steals and four off offensive rebounds.

In the half court, the Bulldogs were taking and missing midrange and three-point jump shots, going 20 of 58. They were 9 of 25 beyond the three-point line and 11 of 33 inside it, and that includes eight layups or dunks off those steals and offensive rebounds.

During that drought within those final 7 minutes, the Bulldogs were 0 of 7 including three misses on three-pointers and had two turnovers.

“They force you to make shots,” Terry said. “They do a great job with their defense and they always have. We got a lot of great looks and were fortunate enough to make a few. But we got a ton of great looks. From a coach’s standpoint, it’s really hard to say, ‘Hey, guys, don’t take that shot when you’re open right there’ when it’s guys we’re counting on to make shots. … But they do a good job of packing it in. They make you work for everything you get.”

Guerrero, one of those guys for Fresno State, ended the scoreless run. Harris got him the basketball right of the basket, with Guerrero getting a clean look.

“You always have to be prepared to take big shots,” he said. “When that happens you just have to really have the confidence in yourself to take the shot. Marvelle found me like he always does and he just said, ‘Let it go,’ and I let it go and I made it, and I’m happy we came out with the win.”

But it was the defense and rebounding that got them there. Fresno State had a 28-6 advantage scoring off turnovers against Air Force (10-10, 1-6) and 14-6 in second-chance points. Jones and Lewis led the Bulldogs with four steals, Guerrero had two and Harris and forward Cullen Russo both had one.

“You just have to be really heady with what’s going on and really understand scouting report and attack it,” Guerrero said. “Their style of play is very unorthodox from the others that we play in the league. You have to guard for the whole 30 seconds because you know they’re going to stick to their principles, but luckily we found some wrinkles and then some guys took some risk and it came out positive for us and we came out with the victory.”

This story was originally published January 23, 2016 at 1:56 PM with the headline "Fresno State men’s basketball: Bulldogs don’t beat zone, but do beat Air Force."