Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Hawai'i
Dogs' Second Half Surge Falls Short
1/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Fresno State's Ned Golubovic, who entered the game in a bit of a slump making just 1 of his last 15 field goal attempts over two games, led a valiant second half effort by the Dogs, an effort described by coach Steve Cleveland as the best 20 minutes of the season. In the end some hot early shooting by UH and a nearly impenetrable zone defense saw the Dogs lose 62-52 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Golubovic knocked down two buckets early as the Dogs trailed 10-9 at the first media timeout of the game and finished the game with 13 points, four rebounds, two assists and one steal.
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak over their long-time WAC rivals.
The Warriors came out hot knocking down threes like crazy over the first 10 minutes, led by Bo Barnes, who made three in that time, two from 30-feet each as the they built a 20-15 lead.
UH used a lot of zone defense early against the Dogs, mixing up a 2-3, with a 1-2-2 zone, which forced the Dogs to attempt long range shots and didn't allow for any offensive boards. Fresno State made just 1 of their first 13 three-point attempts.
UH went on a 24-4 run as the Dogs had nine consecutive 1-shot possessions without a basket before Garrett Johnson's basket with 1:20 left in the first half. The Warriors all but put the game away by halftime, leading 41-21. Hawai'i made 7-of-10 three point field goals in the half.
Fresno State made a run to start the second half, scoring the first seven points in less than two-and-a-half minutes forcing a UH timeout. Golubovic made the first basket of the half. Chipping away, the Dogs cut the large lead nearly in half (43-31 at 12:31). Fresno State outscored the Warriors 12-3 to start the half over the first nine minutes.
Just under 10 minutes remaining in the game, Steven Shepp stole the ball and went the distance to score a layup and fouled on the play. He could have cut the lead to 10 at 46-36, but missed the free throw and UH scored on the next possession to maintain a 13-point lead.
Two possessions later Johnson's three pointer cut the lead 48-38. He added another trey on the next possession and UH's lead was down just seven points with 7:43 remaining.
Golubovic hit a 12-foot jumper in the lane and the lead was cut to 5 points, 48-43, with less than 7 minutes to play.
UH answered with field goals on its next two possessions to extend the lead to 52-43.
Johnson added his fourth three of the half to get the Dogs within 5 points at 54-49.
The valiant nearly comeback ended there as the Dogs failed to score on consecutive possessions while UH added to baskets and returned the lead to a comfortable range 58-49. But the Dogs made another run.
Shepp added a three pointer, but he and Tim Steed both saw driving layups miss the mark in what could have cut the deficit to 4 points with under 2 minutes to play and time just ran out on what would have been one of the most memorable comebacks in Bulldog history.
"That last 20 minutes was as good as we've played this year," said Cleveland. "We just dug too big a hole. I think we can build on it. This is a young team and we are still trying to figure out what it takes to compete at this level. We saw some good things in the second half. If we can put together 40 minutes like that we have a chance to be a pretty good basketball team but it takes 40 minutes."
Bulldog Notes
- After tonight's game, Fresno State leads the all-time series with Hawai'i 25-17.
- Fresno State's record moved to 7-10 overall, 3-4 in WAC games. Hawai'i is 11-8 and 2-5 in the WAC.
- In other WAC games Thursday night, Utah State (17-2, 6-0) defeated La Tech (9-11, 0-6) 74-57 in Logan, Utah and Nevada (6-13, 3-3) defeated New Mexico State (10-10, 4-2) 90-71. Fresno State is the only WAC team that does not play Saturday night.
- The Dogs will play Hawai'i just three more times as Western Athletic Conference members. The Bulldogs move to the Mountain West Conference and the Warriors to the Big West Conference in 2012. UH comes to the Save Mart Center on March 3, the last regular season game of the season for both teams.
"We are Your Team!"The Dogs return home Monday, Jan. 24, to host Seattle University at the Save Mart Center. Tickets are available by clicking the tickets icon at the top of this page.
