Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
16-8 (7-4MW)
San Diego State
18-7 (11-1MW)
'Dogs beat Aztecs 58-57 to climb into 2nd
2/10/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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By Stephen Trembley
strembley@csufresno.edu
www.GoBulldogs.com
FRESNO, Calif. --- The Fresno State men's basketball team turned to its defense, an inspired bench and delivered quite a show while handing San Diego State its first conference loss in a resilient 58-57 victory over the first-place Aztecs late Wednesday night at the Save Mart Center.
Senior guard Marvelle Harris - the 2015-16 Mountain West Preseason Player of the Year - drove hard for 20 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals while playing all 40 minutes of a special game.
"In the five years that I've been here, this is our biggest win here at home," Fresno State head coach Rodney Terry said. "We had a great home crowd. We are able to feed off our home court when our home court is rocking like it was tonight. We're making this a very difficult place to come into and win. I give our guys a lot of effort and credit tonight for the effort and the determination to never give up."
That attitude made all the difference as Fresno State (16-8, 7-4 Mountain West) erased a 12-point first-half deficit and 11-point second half deficit to move into a tie with New Mexico (14-10, 7-4 MW) for the second in the conference race and climb to within 3.5 games back of San Diego State (18-7, 11-1 MW) for the league lead.
"I thought our guys really came out and competed for one another," Terry said. "We started the preparation two days ago for this ball game. We knew we we're going to be under-manned but we weren't going to be undermanned in terms of our effort and in terms of coming out and working for each other."
Bulldogs' junior forward Cullen Russo earned his fourth straight start and posted his fourth double-double of the season (second consecutive) with as he had 14 points and 12 rebounds with two steals.
As a team, Fresno State forced 18 Aztec turnovers, which the 'Dogs used to create 23 points, and senior guard Julien Lewis added 12 points on 5-for-11 shooting.
San Diego State made three 3-pointers during a 14-0 run for a 26-14 lead, but Fresno State answered with a 12-0 run to tie it at 26-all on Julien Lewis' long jumper. San Diego State held a 30-29 halftime lead.
Zylan Cheatham hit two free throws with 42.4 seconds left to pull San Diego State within 58-57. Harris ran down the clock, missed a long 3-pointer and the Aztecs called timeout with 7.6 seconds remaining. Trey Kell was off the mark on a fade-away jumper and San Diego State was whistled for basket interference with 0.8 seconds left. Jeremy Hemsley led SDSU with 18 points and Kell added 16.
"We've played some really great San Diego State teams," Terry said. "We respect their program and what they've been able to do over the years. Every guy we called upon tonight stepped in and did a nice job for us. It was a great team win."
The Bulldogs will now head out on a two-game road stretch when they travel to play at Nevada on Saturday at 4 p.m. PT and Wyoming on Wednesday at 7 p.m. PT before returning to the Save Mart Center on Saturday, Feb. 20 for a 3 p.m. PT meeting with Utah State.
"Be Bold." --- The flagship radio stations for Fresno State men's basketball are 940 AM ESPN Radio and 1600 AM ESPN Deportes.
