Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
USC
More Home Heartache for Men's Basketball
12/19/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 19, 2003
FRESNO, Calif. - Desmon Farmer and Lodrick Stewart scored 19 points apiece as USC withstood a bizarre finish to defeat Fresno State 65-62 Friday night.
Renaldo Major scored 17 points and Marcus West added 14 to lead four Fresno State players in double figures.
Bulldogs guard Shantay Legans appeared to make a tying three-pointer in the closing seconds. But officials waived off the basket, ruling Fresno State had called timeout before Legans released the ball. Fresno State coach Ray Lopes did not argue the call.
After all three officials huddled around the replay monitor, Fresno State was given possession with 3.4 seconds left. This time, Legans' corner three-pointer bounced off the rim and over the backboard as time expired.
USC (4-3) shot 50 percent in the second half, helping erase a 32-24 halftime deficit. Defensively, the Trojans limited Fresno State to 42 percent shooting, 38 percent after intermission.
Farmer made 6 of 14 three-pointers for the Trojans, while Stewart made 4 of 6 three-pointers to go with four steals. Jeff McMillan collected 14 rebounds, 12 on the defensive end.
Marcus West added 13 points and Jonathan Woods 12 for Fresno State (2-5), which remained winless at home against Division I opponents at the Save Mart Center. Fresno State is 1-3 at home for the first time since the 1953-54 season and 2-5 overall for the first time since 1971-72.
The Bulldogs did not score a field goal in the final 5:37 of the game. It was eerily similar to last week's loss to Creighton, in which Fresno State went the final 4:35 of regulation then over three minutes into overtime with just one bucket.
In addition, just as against Creighton, both Legans and Major missed the front end of crucial one-and-one free throw attempts in the waning minutes.
