Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
SMU
Men's Basketball Sneaks Past SMU 54-53
1/8/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan 9, 2004
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Marcus West scored 17 points and Shantay Legans added 15 as Fresno State held off SMU 54-53 on Thursday night at the Save Mart Center.
SMU guard Bryan Hopkins missed an off-balance three-pointer at the buzzer. Hopkins led the Mustangs (7-5, 1-1 Western Athletic Conference) with 16 points and six assists.
Fresno State (7-5, 3-0) led almost the entire game until two free throws by Eric Castro gave SMU a 50-48 lead with 2:43 left.
Following a three-point play by Mustafa Al-Sayyad, Legans swished a three-pointer with the shot clock nearly expired to put Fresno State ahead 54-50 with 59 seconds left. But Hopkins answered right back, hitting a three-pointer with 40.5 left to pull the Mustangs within one.
After the Bulldogs drained almost the entire 35-second clock without scoring, SMU took possession at midcourt with 4.0 seconds left. Hopkins collected the ball off the inbounds pass, dribbled into the front court and launched a hurried three-pointer that grazed the back rim.
Patrick Simpson added 15 points for SMU, which shot 38.3 percent from the field. It marked the fifth game in a row a Fresno State opponent has shot less than 40 percent from the floor.
Fresno State shot 38.5 percent. Terry Pettis added 10 points and five assists for the Bulldogs. Fresno State led 11-0 early until the Mustangs got their first points on two Kris Lowe free throws with 14:12 left in the first half.
The win was the Bulldogs' fifth in a row, matching their longest winning streak last year. Fresno State won five in a row to start the season then again in the middle of the campaign.
