Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State Wins Opening Round of WAC Tournament
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 2, 1999
By TIM DAHLBERG
AP Sports Writer
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Jerry Tarkanian was afraid his Fresno State team would tire down the stretch. Instead, Chris Herren led the Bulldogs on a late surge Tuesday to open the Western Athletic Conference tournament with a 80-59 win over Colorado State.
Herren scored seven of his 22 points during an 11-0 second half run that broke open a close game and put the Bulldogs into a Thursday quarterfinal against Tulsa.
Fresno State (21-10), coming off a regular season-ending road trip that had the team playing in San Diego and then in Hawaii on Saturday night, showed no ill effects from the travel as the Bulldogs held Colorado State (17-10) to only 10 points in the last 14 minutes of the game to pull out the win.
"In the second half we really did a job on them," Tarkanian said.
Colorado State, which hit six of 10 3-pointers in the first half, could manage only two of 13 in the second.
"They went cold in the second half," Herren said. "We knew they couldn't keep up that pace the whole game."
Herren, a senior who missed eight games with assorted injuries and illnesses, doubled his season average of 11.3 points by hitting seven of 11 shots, including four of five 3-pointers.
"It was a great game for Chris and one he really needed," Tarkanian said.
The game opened the 12-team conference postseason tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center, an arena built on the success of Tarkanian's UNLV teams.
Colorado State led 51-50 on a basket by Ceedric Goodwyn with 12 minutes left, but Fresno State outscored the Rams 30-8 the rest of the game.
Milt Palacio had 26 points for Colorado State but his teammates managed only three points between them in the final 14 minutes of the game. Andre McKanstry had 15 points for the Rams.
Courtney Alexander added 16 points for Fresno State, while Melvin Ely had 13 of his 15 points during the second half surge that decided the contest.
The defeat marked the third straight year that Colorado State has been ousted in the first round of the postseason tournament.
Fresno State led 36-33 at halftime, but Colorado State came back with an 8-0 run that gave the Rams their first lead of the second half at 49-48. It didn't last long, though, as Colorado State would score only 10 points the remainder of the game.
The Bulldogs shot 52 percent for the game, including 10 of 19 3-pointers.
