Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Hawai'i
Fresno State Beats Hawaii to Finish Season Strong
3/6/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 6, 2004
FRESNO, Calif. - Mustafa Al-Sayyad scored a career-high 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Fresno State to a 69-60 victory over Hawaii on Saturday night in the regular season finale.
The Bulldogs (14-14, 10-8 WAC) came into the game knowing they had the No. 6 seed in next week's McCaffrey WAC Tournament but still played one of their best 40 minutes of the season.
Fresno State will meet third-seeded Boise State on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. at the Save Mart Center.
Julian Sensley scored 24 points to lead Hawaii (19-10, 11-7), which will be the No. 5 seed in the conference tournament. The Rainbow Warriors will play fourth-seeded Rice on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
Shantay Legans led Fresno State with 25 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including 5-of-11 from beyond the arc.
The Bulldogs jumped on top of Hawaii in the first half, taking an 11-point lead with just under seven minutes left. Fresno State eventually led at the break 38-26.
A 7-0 run at the beginning of the second half put the Rainbow Warriors back into it. Hawaii trimmed the lead to three numerous times, the last being when the score was 56-53 with 6:50 to play.
But a three-point play by Al-Sayyad put Fresno State up six, and Hawaii never got any closer the rest of the way.
For the second game against the Rainbow Warriors, the Bulldogs dominated the boards, holding a 37-27 advantage. Fresno State also shot 21-of-24 from the line.
Fresno State also held Michael Kuebler, the WAC's second-leading scorer, to just nine points on 3-of-16 shooting.
