Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Hawai'i
Fresno State Outlasts Hawai'i, 73-67
2/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 13, 2006
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- Quinton Hosley scored 25 points and Ja'Vance Coleman added 18, leading Fresno State to a 73-67 victory over Hawai'i on Monday night.
Dwight O'Neil added 11 points for Fresno State (13-10, 6-6 Western Athletic Conference), including consecutive 3-pointers in the second half.
Matt Lojeski had 20 points for Hawai'i (13-9, 7-5) and Julian Sensley added 16 points and eight rebounds. The Rainbow Warriors, coming off their first road win of the season, dropped to 1-7 on the mainland. The loss also snapped Hawai'i's three-game winning streak.
Fresno State led by as many as 14 points in the second half before Hawai'i trimmed the deficit to 71-67 on Lojeski's 3-pointer with 1:14 left. Both teams missed outside shots in the final minute before Hosley iced the game by making two free throws with 14.1 seconds left.
Hawai'i shot 49.1 percent from the field but finished 1-for-12 from 3-point range. Coleman went 4-for-8 from behind the arc for the Bulldogs.
Fresno State led 38-30 at halftime, reeling off eight straight points in the final 2:06. O'Neil capped the rally by soaring for a dunk after Kevin Bell stole the ball from Sensley at midcourt.
Hosley led all scorers with 14 first-half points on 6-of-10 shooting. Coleman added 13.
Sensley scored all nine of his first-half points in the final 8:24.
Needing two points to become the 34th Bulldog to tally 900 career points, Coleman reached that plateau in the very first basket of the game when he shot a jumper 56 seconds into the game.
Hosley posted his 10th 20-point game of the season and second in his last four games as he also scored 25 points against Utah State and UC Santa Barbara.
"This was a great team effort tonight," Fresno State head coach Steve Cleveland said. "This was probably our best executed defensive effort all season. Rebounding was critical tonight and we did a good job of not allowing a lot of offensive rebounds.
"I thought Dwight (O'Neil) did a great job on Sensley, who is an outstanding player and is a pro caliber player," Cleveland stated. Quinton (Hosley) was outstanding after coming off a quiet night. Ja'Vance (Coleman) played with great energy and really, really defended well. Renato (Cesar) gave us great minutes off the bench and did a great job and Hector (Hernandez) played hard and contributed on every possession.
"This was a very good team that we beat tonight," Cleveland added. "You have to feel good as a coach when you see the plan executed and that just empowers the players as well. I think this team has really matured in the last seven to eight days. They are playing the type of basketball that we want to play."
Fresno State will travel to Creighton on Sat., Feb. 18, 9:00 p.m. (PT) for the fourth annual BracketBusters presented by eBay. The Bulldogs will be making their 16th national television appearance since 1999 when they play on ESPN this weekend.
Setting a new Save Mart Center record for wins in a season (11) tonight, the Bulldogs will close out their home schedule on ESPN's Big Monday when they host Boise State on Feb. 27. A 9:00 p.m. tip off, that game will be shown on ESPN2.
Single-game tickets can be purchased through any Ticketmaster outlet or the Save Mart Center Box Office.
