Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Hawai'i
Dogs Hammer Hot Hawaii
3/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 5, 2011
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Fresno, Calif. -
Let March Madness begin.
The Bulldog men's basketball team prepped for the upcoming WAC tournament by playing its best basketball of the season, defeating a red-hot Hawaii team 85-70. It was the most points scored by the Bulldogs in a WAC game this season.
Hawai'i came into the game as one of the WAC's hottest teams, winning five consecutive games and nine of its' last 11 games.
Saturday's game at the Save Mart Center, which featured the return of 16 NFL playing Bulldogs to campus, was a dominating performance by Fresno State. The Dogs never trailed in the game, and twice pushed their lead in the first half to 18 points. The Bulldogs extended it to more than 20 points a couple times in the second half while cruising to victory.
Sophomore center Greg Smith was a dominating force, posting a double-double - 11 points and 10 rebounds - before halftime. He finished with a career-high 16 rebounds and 16 points.
Freshman Kevin Olekaibe led a Bulldog scoring barrage early in the game knocking down three long-range trey that gave the Dogs a 25-10 lead. They poured on the coals and never looked back in front of nearly 8,000 enthusiastic fans at the Save Mart Center.
The Bulldogs came into Saturday's game off a hard-fought 3-point loss at Idaho Thursday night, in arguably the best WAC road performance of the season. With the confidence of the last two performances, head coach Steve Cleveland is pleased with the progress of his young team.
"I really like the way we have played our last two games," said head coach Steve Cleveland. "The one thing we can always control is our energy and effort and I believe we do that like we did at Idaho and like we did tonight, good things will happen. Our players have never seen me as upset as I was after the Idaho game, because they bought into what the coaches said and were totally committed. We just didn't get the win. Tonight we got the same, similar effort, and it paid off for us in a big way."
In a complete team effort, all 10 Dogs who played in the game scored led by Olekaibe with 17 points.
The Bulldog finished the WAC regular season in seventh place and will play No. 6 seed Nevada in the first round of the WAC tournament in Las Vegas.
That's when March Madness really begins.
Bulldog Notes
- Fresno State leads the all-time series 26-17 against Hawai'i.
- Sophomore Greg Smith had a career-high 15 rebounds, most by a Bulldog since Dominic McGuire, now of the Charlotte Bobcats, had 15 against Boise State on Jan. 25, 2007.
- Bulldog senior Ned Golubovic played his final game at the Save Mart Center. In his four-year career, he was named CoSIDA Academic All-District three times, the only Bulldog ever honored. He's played in 130 games in his career, starting 73.
- In other games involving WAC teams Saturday night, No. 21 Utah State (28-3, 15-1) won at La Tech (12-20, 2-14) 72-30; Boise State (19-11, 10-6) defeated San Jose State (12-19, 5-11) 66-51; and New Mexico State (15-16, 9-7) defeated Nevada (12-18, 8-8) 77-68 and in a non-WAC game, Idaho (17-12, 9-7) defeated Seattle 78-69.
- Five Bulldog fans won flat screen TVs courtesy of head coach Steve Cleveland, who purchased the TVs that were given away.
- The seeds for the 2011 WAC Tournament which begins on Wednesday at The Orleans in Las Vegas are as follows: 1. Utah State; 2. Boise State; 3. New Mexico State; 4. Idaho; 5. Hawai'i; 6. Nevada; 7. Fresno State; 8. San Jose State. The Bulldogs will play Nevada in the first round game at 2:30 p.m. PT on Wednesday.
"We are Your Team!" Fresno State opens the 2011 WAC Tournament on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. against WAC rival Nevada. Bulldog fans can get tickets for the event, played at The Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, by contacting the Bulldog ticket office at (559) 278-DOGS.
