Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Hawai'i
Fresno State Suffers First WAC Loss of the Season
1/11/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 11, 2007
Honolulu, Hawaii - Fresno State continued to battle Hawaii to the final buzzer Thursday night, but it wasn't enough, as the Rainbow Warriors had one of their better offensive performances of the year in an 83-66 victory over the Bulldogs at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The Bulldogs suffered their second road loss of the season and fell to 13-3 overall and 2-1 in Western Athletic Conference play. With the win, Hawaii improved to 10-6 overall and 1-2 in conference play.
Fresno State came into the game with the top defense in the WAC, but Hawaii shot 50 percent from the field and 36 percent from 3-point range on its home court.
The Bulldogs will return to WAC action on Saturday, when the face San Jose State at 3 p.m. at the Event Center. Fresno State will take a red-eye flight from Honolulu to San Francisco immediately following tonight's game.
Offensively, Kevin Bell and Quinton Hosley led the Bulldogs with 12 points each. Dominic McGuire and Hector Hernandez each added nine and McGuire added six rebounds and three blocked shots.
Eddie Miller came off the bench for the second straight game and scored 13 points, including three 3-pointers.
The 20-point deficit at half is the largest this season for the Bulldogs. The 24 points scored in the opening half is the third time the Bulldogs have scored 24 points to open the game. The other two times were losses against UC Santa Barbara and Stanford.
The Rainbow Warriors continued to hold off every Fresno State run in the second half and stayed on fire as a team.
Hawaii opened up a 29-point lead after a Dominic Waters 3-pointer, but Fresno State answered with a McGuire free throw and two Hector Hernandez 3-pointers to cut the lead to 63-41 with 12:35 left in the game.
To begin the second half Kevin Bell hit a 3-pointer, but Bobby Nash hit two 3-pointers as Hawaii extended its lead to 56-32 with 15:55 left in the game.
Dominic McGuire continued to attack the basket hitting a pair of free throws for Fresno State.
During the final four minutes of the opening half, Hawaii extended its lead after back-to-back jumpers by Bobby Nash and Riley Luettgerodt.
The Bulldogs shot 30 percent in the first half, while the Rainbow Warriors shot 56 percent from the field.
Ja'Vance Coleman and Eddie Miller led the Bulldogs with five points each, while Dominic McGuire and Kevin Bell each added four.
