Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Rice
Men's Basketball Suffers Heartbreaking Home Loss
1/22/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 22, 2004
FRESNO, Calif. - Jason McKrieth made a 18-foot jumper with 1.0 seconds left to lift Rice to a 65-63 victory over Fresno State on Thursday night at the Save Mart Center.
The Owls (13-4, 5-1 Western Athletic Conference) worked the ball around the perimeter before McKrieth received a pass, faked defender Terry Pettis into the air, and calmly drained the shot that gave Rice the win.
McKrieth's bucket came just after Pettis had tied the game with a three-pointer of his own with 16.8 seconds left. McKrieth finished with 24 points, tying his career high.
Pettis led the Bulldogs (9-7, 5-2) with a career-high 24.
Rice trailed 58-54 with 4 minutes left before going on a 7-0 run over the a three-minute span. Michael Harris, who finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, dunked off a missed shot to cut the lead to two. On the Owls' next possession, McKrieth followed up another miss with a dunk of his own and was fouled. He made the ensuing free throw to make it 61-58.
The Bulldogs trailed 33-30 at half and were able to stay close mainly due to Pettis, who had 15 points at intermission.
Fresno State outrebounded Rice 34-31 but committed 11 turnovers to the Owls' eight.
The loss continued a maddening pattern of losing leads in the late minutes in home games. Fresno State led both Creighton and USC with less than five minutes left in December games at the Save Mart Center only to falter late. Against Rice, the Bulldogs suffered through a stretch of nearly three minutes down the stretch in which they did not score a field goal.
The Bulldogs played without senior swingman Renaldo Major, who sat out because he had not been cleared academically. His status may be resolved in time for Saturday's game against Tulsa.
