Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
San Jose State
Dogs Dropped by Hot Spartans
1/29/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 29, 2011
SAN JOSE, Calif. - A red-hot Spartan team made 70 percent of its three point field goals in the first half and raced to an early lead that proved insurmountable in a 78-66 victory against a young Bulldog men's basketball team at the Events Center on the San Jose State campus Saturday night. The rival schools split the season series, each winning on their home courts.
Led by Adrian Oliver, who averaged over 23 points per game entering the game, the Spartans jumped to an early 28-10 lead. Oliver scored 14 point in the first 12 minutes of the game and finished with 25 points.
The Dogs slowly chipped away at the lead as the half went on, but couldn't slow down the hot-shooting Spartans who pushed their lead to 46-32 at halftime, making 7 of 10 three pointers. It was the most points the Dogs allowed in the first half of a game all season.
The Dogs made just 3 of 15 threes in the half and had a hard time penetrating the SJSU zone defense.
Freshman guard Kevin Olekaibe, who scored 15 points in the half, made all of Fresno State's three point field goals. The smallest player on the floor, he led the Dogs with a career-high of 29 points and knocked down six three point field goals. Fresno State scraped, scratched and hustled the entire second half, getting the lead to under 10 points for the first time since early the game at 61-52 with 11:44 on a Bracken Funk three point play. That was as close as the Dogs would get. Funk finished with nine points.
Sophomore Greg Smith scored 10 points and led the Dogs with nine rebounds.
Tyler Johnson, who was injured in a nasty fall after a spectacular dunk against Nevada on Thursday night, did return to the action and scoring four points in 19 minutes.
"They played well, give San Jose State credit, but we didn't come out early with the effort we needed in order to win on the road." said head coach Steve Cleveland. "We are going to play New Mexico State, a team we don't match up well against, so we have a huge challenge ahead. We have had a great practices leading up to this point, but we are not getting the results we need. We are going to take Sunday off and get back to work on Monday morning to get this thing righted."
The Dogs return home Thursday, Feb. 3, against New Mexico State at 7 p.m. PT.
Bulldog Notes
- The Dogs lead the all-time series 78-74 over the rival Spartans.
- Kevin Olekaibe set a new career-high with six three-point field goals.
- Fresno State's record moved to 8-12 overall and is 3-6 in WAC games. San Jose State is 10-10 and 2-7 in the WAC.
- Both coaching staffs wore tennis shoes on with their suits to bring awareness in the Coaches vs. Cancer cause.
- In other WAC games Saturday night, Louisiana Tech (11-12, 2-7) defeated Boise State (12-9, 5-4) 70-60 in Ruston, La., New Mexico State (12-11, 6-3) defeated Idaho (12-9, 5-5) 73-65 in Las Cruces, N.M., and No. 25 Utah State (19-2, 8-0) played a late night game at Hawai'i (12-8, 3-5).
"We are Your Team!" The Dogs return home on Feb. 3 to take on New Mexico State at the Save Mart Center at 7 p.m. 559 more than just an area code on Feb. 5 when the Dogs host Louisiana Tech in a nationally televised game on ESPNU. All Fresno State faculty and staff will be admitted for free and Fresno State will honor all campus Greek organizations. In addition, Fresno State will celebrate its Centennial night and game sponsor Texaco will provide free T-shirts to the first 2,000 fans. Sports Chalet will give out 5,000 free mystery cards ranging in value from $5 to $100
5- $5 tickets to the game
5- $5 Bulldog Shop Bulldog Bucks at the entrance
9- $9 meal deals all night, including combinations of burgers, fries, hot dogs, nachos, popcorn and soft drinks
