Fresno State
1-1
Bristol University
0-3
Bulldogs Knock Off Bristol 93-55 in Home Opener
11/17/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 17, 2014
By Jason Clay
jaclay@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
FRESNO, Calif. - Sophomore guard Paul Watson scored a career-high 28 points in leading the Fresno State men's basketball team to a 93-55 victory over Bristol in the Bulldogs' home opener at the Save Mart Center Monday evening.
Watson was one fire all evening, knocking down 10-of-13 shots attempted and he sank a career-high six 3-pointers for the Bulldogs.
"I got to the rim early, I tried to get out before the game and get some shots up and it worked for me," Watson said.
Fresno State won its first game of the season, rebounding after a loss last Friday at Pepperdine in its season opener. The win gives the Bulldogs a spark as they now head out of town on an eight-day, four-game road trip that begins on Thursday at Northern Arizona.
The Bulldogs won this game with a big second half, outscoring the Bears 56-21 after halftime. Bristol only made eight field goals in the second half and Fresno State was able to out-rebound the Bears 44-27 in the game.
"The most important thing we try to do this time of the year is build our defense and it took us the better half of the year, a year ago, to really understand the urgency you have to play with on defense and we're still trying to build that right now," head coach Rodney Terry said. "That has to be an identity for us, night in and night out we have to know that if we're not making shots then we have to at least count on our defense. I think we have the chance to be a decent defensive team once we really buy in and do it consistently for 40 minutes."
The Bulldogs as a team shot 50.8 percent on the night and had four players score in double figures. In addition to Watson's career night, guard Julien Lewis chipped in with 17 points, Karachi Edo scored 14 and had eight rebounds and Emmanuel Owootoah finished with 11.
Fresno State did a nice job of sharing the ball in the game, recording 19 assists on its 30 made field goals. That ball movement was much improved from the season-opening loss at Pepperdine when the `Dogs had just nine assists.
"We shared the ball, we had 19 assists tonight, the ball didn't stick in anyone's hands, we moved that basketball," Terry said. "We want to be an unselfish team."
Darnell Taylor had eight assists off the bench to lead the team and he was one of four players with three or more assists on the night.
After scoring 25 points in the season opener, guard Marvelle Harris was held to just seven points Monday. Harris' shots were not falling against the Bears, going 0-for-7 from the field and all seven of his points came at the free-throw line, but he did chip in with nine rebounds and four assists. His nine rebounds was one off of his career-high.
"Marvelle's a guy that we know night-in and night-out we can count on him to score for us. Tonight he didn't have it going particularly well in the scoring department, but he finished with nine rebounds and four assists," Terry said. "There are other ways that you can affect the game and really out your will on the game and I thought that he tried to guard on defense much better, he wasn't out there trying to reach and put himself in a bad position."
After the first leg of their extended upcoming road trip against Northern Arizona, Fresno State heads to Estero, Fla. to play in the Gulf Coast Showcase right before Thanksgiving, Nov. 24-26. The `Dogs open up the tournament in Florida by facing Evansville.
"Be Bold." --- Season tickets for the 2014-15 season are available starting at $149 with mini-plans available starting at $84. A special holiday pack is also on sale for $30 and includes a ticket to the Nov. 29 football game vs. Hawai'i, the Nov. 30 men's basketball game vs. Cal and a Derek Carr Bobblehead. For more information, call 559-278-DOGS.
