Fresno State
UC Santa Barbara
Bulldogs Hold Off UC Santa Barbara, 79-76
12/23/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 23, 2005
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Quinton Hosley scored 25 points and Ja'Vance Coleman added 22 as Fresno State held off UC Santa Barbara for a 79-76 victory Friday night.
The Bulldogs (6-3) won their fourth straight home game despite seeing a 20-point lead cut down to nine in just under the final 10 minutes of play.
Cecil Brown and Joe See had 14 points apiece for the Gauchos (4-5), who pulled to within 78-76 on See's three-pointer with 1:14 left.
Neither team scored again until Kevin Bell hit 1 of 2 free throws with 2.3 seconds remaining. UC Santa Barbara's Lance Hurdle missed a desperation shot from near half court at the buzzer.
Hosley scored his 25 points on just eight field-goal attempts. While grabbing nine rebounds, he drew fouls in the post and responded by going 13 of 15 from the free-throw line.
Hosley set three Save Mart Center records at the charity strip in free throws made, attempted and free throw percentage (.867).Hosley collected his third straight 20-point game and fifth in the last six games.
While Coleman also tallied his third straight 20-point game, he and Hosley now have each scored 20-plus in the same game for the third consecutive game and fifth time overall on the season.
Tying its best home start (4-0) at the Save Mart Center, Fresno State scored a first half high of 52 points, this after coming off a second half high for most points with 51 against Norfolk State four days earlier.
While the Gauchos dropped to 0-5 on the road, UC Santa Barbara led 23-15 early before Fresno State mounted scoring runs of 16-0 and 13-2 late in the first half. The Bulldogs shot 61.5 percent in the first half, hitting 8 of 11 three-pointers, to take a 52-33 halftime lead.
Fresno State shot 28 percent in the second half, going the final 6:32 without a field goal. UCSB was hot from the floor, shooting 62.5 percent beyond the arc (5-8) and nearly 60 percent (16-27) from the floor.
Chris Devine added 12 points and Derek Rasp 10 for the Gauchos, who outscored the Bulldogs 43-27 after halftime.
"This wasn't we scripted at halftime but I'm extremely proud of these young men," Fresno State head coach Steve Cleveland said. "In the first half we shot extremely well and in the second we lost some of our aggressiveness and couldn't finish off some of our plays."UC Santa Barbara has great shooters," Cleveland stated. "They shot extremely well in the second half and took away some of our confidence. They got hot, got on a roll and just took it to us.
"It was critical for us at the end of the game to make the defensive stops and we did," Cleveland added. "In the last 90 seconds of the game we got the stops, we got the rebounds and we overcame our momentum loss. We're playing against some very good teams that are well coached. We'll continue to learn from every experience as we ready ourselves for conference play."
Fresno State continues its five-game homestand next Thursday when the Bulldogs host San Francisco on Dec. 29, 7:00 p.m. Single-game tickets are available through Ticketmaster and the Save Mart Center box office. Single-season tickets can be had through gobulldogs.com and the Bulldog Ticket Office at (559) 278-DOGS.
