Fresno State men’s basketball: ’Dogs find their range, hold off Wyoming
Fresno State wasn’t badly wounded by Josh Adams, the Wyoming Cowboys’ senior guard, who was leading the Mountain West in scoring at 24.3 points per game and put up 32 when these teams squared off in January in Fresno.
He had 16 points, only two in the first half. But that was not the most startling part of the Bulldogs’ 79-75 victory over the Cowboys on Wednesday in Laramie. It was the way they shot the basketball, forget the on-the-road or in-a-conference-game part of that equation.
The Bulldogs (17-9, 8-5 MW) came in scoring only 22.5 percent of their points this season from the three-point line, ranking in a tie for 324th of 351 in the nation.
But, led by Marvelle Harris, they knocked down 15 of 22 shots at the three-point line, accounting for 56.9 percent of their points.
Harris, who had 25 points, hit 7 of 8 shots from the three-point line. Jahmel Taylor was 4 of 4 off the bench in scoring 14 points. Cezar Guerrero had two makes from the three-point line. The season-high 15 three-pointers gave the Bulldogs a cushion that helped them absorb a stretch of almost four minutes in the second half where they went scoreless, and the last one, by Taylor, gave them a 71-67 lead with 1:38 to go after the Cowboys (12-15, 5-9) had cut an 18-point lead at the 12:39 mark down to just one point.
“I think we’re shooting with a lot of confidence. I thought we played with a lot of confidence and in a very difficult place to play,” coach Rodney Terry said. “I thought we shot the ball OK the other night at Nevada. We’ve got guys that can make shots and we’re playing confident right now and that’s what you have to do.
“JT came in and made some big shots. Marvelle got us going. Cezar made some shots. Julien Lewis made a three. Cullen Russo played really well in the second half. It was a great team win. Terrell (Carter II) came in and gave us a really good 13 minutes – we really missed him on Saturday (at Nevada) having some physicality to come in and give us those minutes inside.”
FRESNO STATE 79, WYOMING 75
FRESNO ST. | Min | FGM-A | FTM-A | OR-TR | A | PF | PT |
Russo | 34 | 6-9 | 4-7 | 0-10 | 2 | 3 | 17 |
Lewis | 23 | 2-5 | 2-2 | 0-2 | 1 | 5 | 7 |
Guerrero | 26 | 4-9 | 0-0 | 0-4 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
Bittner | 33 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0-2 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Harris | 39 | 8-15 | 2-3 | 0-3 | 7 | 3 | 25 |
Taylor | 18 | 4-5 | 2-2 | 1-3 | 0 | 2 | 14 |
Ellison III | 14 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Carter II | 13 | 2-3 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
Totals | 200 | 26-47 | 12-18 | 3-32 | 11 | 19 | 79 |
Percentages: FG .553, FT .667. 3-Point Goals: 15-22, .682 (Harris 7-8, Taylor 4-4, Guerrero 2-5, Russo 1-2, Lewis 1-3). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 0. Turnovers: 12 (Harris 3, Lewis 3, Russo 3, Ellison III, Carter II, Taylor). Steals: 5 (Russo 3, Harris 2). Technical Fouls: None.
WYOMING | Min | FGM-A | FTM-A | OR-TR | A | PF | PT |
Herndon | 24 | 2-5 | 1-4 | 1-4 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
Barnes | 5 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 2-2 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Lieberman | 18 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
Adams | 40 | 7-17 | 0-1 | 1-7 | 8 | 3 | 16 |
McManamen | 40 | 10-17 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 2 | 5 | 28 |
James | 11 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
Aka Gorski | 26 | 3-7 | 1-1 | 0-4 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
Dalton | 4 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Naughton | 10 | 1-1 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Washington III | 22 | 1-3 | 1-2 | 1-3 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
Totals | 200 | 28-60 | 5-12 | 7-27 | 17 | 19 | 75 |
Percentages: FG .467, FT .417. 3-Point Goals: 14-37, .378 (McManamen 8-15, Aka Gorski 2-6, Adams 2-8, Lieberman 1-2, James 1-2, Herndon 0-1, Dalton 0-1, Washington III 0-2). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 1 (Adams). Turnovers: 6 (Adams 3, Herndon, Aka Gorski, McManamen). Steals: 4 (Adams 4). Technical Fouls: None.
Fresno St. | 39 | 40 | — | 79 |
Wyoming | 33 | 42 | — | 75 |
A—4,852. Officials—David Hall, John Higgins, Kipp Kissinger.
This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 9:11 PM with the headline "Fresno State men’s basketball: ’Dogs find their range, hold off Wyoming."