Fresno State men’s basketball: Bulldogs emerge on top, beat UNLV in double OT

Fresno State was up 17 midway through the second half and doing a lot right, handling zone as well as it has all season, defending and rebounding. But it was in full-on survival mode in the final 10 minutes as that lead got away, and then through the first of two overtimes before its regained its footing and came away with an 111-104 victory over UNLV on Saturday.

The result, if not the final score, was one of only a few things that made sense in what became a wild game.

The Bulldogs (15-8, 6-4) bounced back after a Mountain West Conference loss to San Jose State, which is the way it has gone this season. But a ton went into this one. Fresno State played without a key component from its victory at UNLV that opened conference play in Torren Jones, who had 18 points and eight rebounds in that Dec. 30 game.

Fresno State tied the score Saturday on a drive by Marvelle Harris, had to survive a 27-second defensive stand to force overtime, and came from down three to force the second overtime. The 111 points were the most Fresno State has scored at Save Mart Center and it was the team’s first 100-point game against a Division I opponent since a 107-99 double-overtime victory over Nevada in 2003.

The Bulldogs did not attack well in the first overtime – their first three shots were from behind the three-point line, the fourth another jumper. But coach Rodney Terry made an adjustment between overtimes, putting Julien Lewis in the middle of the Rebels’ zone, where he could facilitate offense and the Bulldogs attacked much more efficiently after that.

“I probably should have done that an overtime before,” Terry said. “He’s really good in the middle and I hadn’t done that to that point. But I said, ‘Hey, put Juice in the middle, put Cullen (Russo) outside, and let’s let Juice operate in the middle, because the middle is open. He did a nice job making plays for us and at the end of the day against zone. You have to make plays and you have to make shots.”

The move paid immediate dividends, with Lewis working inside the zone and knocking down a jumper from the free throw line to allow the Bulldogs to get a jump on UNLV, which lost 7-foot freshman forward Stephen Zimmerman Jr. in the first half with a knee injury.

“It’s just instinct,” Lewis said. “I use my instincts. I just move without the ball. I play with all my teammates, moving the offense, cutting and moving and finding the open spots. Once I get in the open spot I feel like I can create.”

After the basket by Lewis, Cezar Guerrero hit Karachi Edo with an alley-oop pass at the rim for another basket and the Bulldogs were on their way.

Edo went down on the Bulldogs’ next trip down the floor, taking a hard foul under the basket by Derrick Jones Jr., and didn’t return with a left wrist injury. There was no prognosis immediately after the game.

“That’s the one thing as we got back we talked about a lot of positive things with our team after the ball game — we were missing one guy sitting in his familiar seat,” Terry said. “He was doing on that particular play exactly what we ask him to do – finish in the rim. It was an unfortunate thing that happened. I’m not sure where it’s at right now; just hoping and praying that we get a positive result from the situation.”

But the Bulldogs had enough to get by, with Harris rebounding from a 2-of-16 outing in the Bulldogs’ loss at San Jose State and pouring in 37 points, nine rebounds and seven assists and Lewis adding 18, Russo 17 and Terrell Carter 14.

In that second overtime, the Bulldogs put pieces together that had gotten away toward the end of regulation. They finished with 20 assists to just six turnovers, hit 40 of 89 shots (44.9 percent) and dug in when pressed.

UNLV (13-11, 4-7) had 19 offensive rebounds, scored 25 second-chance points and had 42 in the paint. Oddly, for two teams that can thrive in transition, there were only 14 fast-break points scored, 12 by the Bulldogs.

“These guys made plays,” Terry said. “It was a game that got down to who is going to make the most plays and finish possessions, and I thought (Harris and Lewis) were pivotal guys down the stretch in getting that done at a very high level.

“Juice (Lewis) was tremendous in the middle, Marvelle was outside making shots. These guys just kept playing, kept working the game. Even when they missed a few shots, these guys kept playing and they were the difference. Obviously, it was a great team win.

“But these guys made big plays down the stretch in terms of executing our zone offense.”

This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 6:47 PM with the headline "Fresno State men’s basketball: Bulldogs emerge on top, beat UNLV in double OT."