Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
SMU
Fresno State Downs Southern Methodist University, 92-86
1/13/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 13, 2001
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Chris Jefferies scored 23 points and Demetrius Porter added 22 to lead Fresno State to a 92-86 Western Athletic Conference victory against Southern Methodist on Saturday.
Fresno State (15-2, 4-0), won its 11th straight game. Melvin Ely added 19 for Fresno and had game-high 11 rebounds.
Damon Hancock led SMU (12-4, 3-1) with 23 points, 19 of those in the first half. Jeryl Sasser added 19 for the Mustangs.
Fresno State turned a two-point halftime margin into a 67-47 lead in the first eight minutes.
Sasser, held in check for most of the game by Jefferies, got hot in the final eight minutes and sparked a 17-8 run with 10 of those points as SMU cut the Fresno lead to 85-74 with just less than five minutes left in the game. But the Mustangs couldn't get any closer until the final 15 seconds of the game.
Fresno State came out sizzling, hitting 11 of its first 13 shots for a 25-6 lead less than eight minutes into the game.
Jefferies scored 11 in that run while Porter added six on a pair of threes.
Fresno was still ahead by 18 with just over eight minutes left in the half but then SMU got hot, outscoring the Bulldogs 20-4 to trim the lead to 36-34 at halftime.
