Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
New Mexico State
'Dogs Fall to NMSU in WAC Tourney
3/8/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Stephen Trembley
strembley@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
LAS VEGAS --- The Fresno State men's basketball team suffered a season-ending 65-49 loss to New Mexico State on Thursday in the Quarterfinals of the 2012 Verizon Western Athletic Conference Tournament.
Junior Kevin Foster led Fresno State (13-20) with 14 points and seven rebounds while sophomore guard Kevin Olekaibe added 13 and senior Steven Shepp used his long-range and penetrating ability to chip in 10.
Wendell McKines, the WAC's leading scorer, scored 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, Tyrone Watson added 13 points and New Mexico State relied on its defense to pull away for a victory over Fresno State.
"We've had better days," Bulldogs' head coach Rodney Terry said. "I'm proud of our guys effort. All season really - we never got outcompeted."
New Mexico State used its size and athleticism to take a 25-19 lead at halftime and built a 16-point in the second half before closing out its 24th victory of the year.
Fresno State (13-20) continued to fight and tried to mount another one of its fearless comebacks, but couldn't overcome an off-shooting afternoon of just 31.4 percent from the floor and the physicality of a strong Aggie squad that pulled down 46 rebounds, including 21 on the offensive glass.
"This hurts - my shots weren't falling, but kept competing hard for my teammates," Olekaibe said. "We are looking forward to working as hard as we can this spring and offseason to get better."
"We appreciated the support from the Red Wave all year and I promise we'll get this thing turned around," Terry added.
"We Are Your Team!" - The Bulldogs will hold its annual awards banquet on Monday night. Make sure to follow Fresno State head coach @RodneyTerry on Twitter for updates direct from the head coach and keep checking www.gobulldogs.com for the latest men's basketball information.
