Bulldogs cruise to 93-56 rout of CSUMB

Monday, December 18

Fresno, Calif.

7 p.m. PT

Fresno State

10-3

Cal State Monterey Bay

Fresno State

Photo by: Keith Kountz

Bulldogs cruise to 93-56 rout of CSUMB

12/18/2017 9:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Fresno State will next host the Nevada Wolf Pack on Dec. 27 at 7 p.m. PT. Tickets are on sale now for $15 through www.Ticketmaster.com and the Save Mart Center Box Office.

By: Stephen Trembley / Director of New Media

FRESNO, Calif. --- The Fresno State men's basketball team cruised to a 93-56 victory over the Cal State Monterey Bay Otters on Monday night at the Save Mart Center in record-setting fashion.

Fresno State (10-3) won by at least 30 points for the third time this season in the 37-point rout of the in-state opponent.

Fresno State sophomore forward Bryson Williams scored a career-high 30 points on 14-for-17 shooting, which was also a career-high for Williams with the 14 made field goals.

Meanwhile, Bulldogs' sophomore forward Nate Grimes recorded his first career double-double with a career-best 10 points and 17 rebounds to tie the program's Save Mart Center record for rebounds in a single game (Quinton Hosley, 17, vs. Utah State, Jan. 7, 2006). Grimes is also the first Bulldog to grab at least 15 rebounds in a game since Alex Davis did so back in 2013.

How it happened: Fresno State outplayed CSUMB from start to finish as the Bulldogs got its final tune-up before starting conference play next week.

The Bulldogs jumped out to an 18-4 lead and never looked back while taking care of business on both ends of the floor.

A total of five Bulldogs scored in double figures – led by Williams' 30 points – and Fresno State finished the night by making 58.2 percent of its field goal attempts (39-for-67).

As a team, Fresno State outscored CSUMB 54-16 in the paint and 30-19 in points off turnovers. The Bulldogs collected 12 steals and outrebounded the Otters 49-21.

Player Notes:
Nate Grimes – 10 points, 17 rebounds, 4 blocks, 1 steal
The sophomore forward tied the program record for most rebounds (17) in a single game at the Save Mart Center … grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds … had a career-high 10 points … recorded his first career double-double … played a career-high 21 minutes.

Bryson Williams – 30 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal
The sophomore forward had a career-high 30 points … scored in double-digits for the 20th time this season, 22nd time in his career … marked the second time in his career that he scored 20-plus points … was 14-for-17 from the field.

Deshon Taylor – 18 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists, 5 steals
The junior guard recorded a career-high nine assists ... scored in double-figures for the 11th time this season (27th time in his career) ... he was 6-for-9 from the field ... tied his career-high with five steals ... played a team-high 37 minutes.

Team Notes:

With the win, Fresno State improved to 47-8 overall (85.5 percent) at home since the start of the 2014-15 season, including a 24-4 record (85.7 percent) against nonconference opponents in that stretch.
Fresno State has now won 17 of its last 23 games in its next game after a loss.
Fresno State improved to 14-0 versus non-Division I opponents in Terry's tenure.
Fresno State has scored at least 75 points in 10 of its 12 games this season.
Fresno State has outrebounded its opponent in 11 of 13 games this season.
Fresno State has now won 57 of its last 63 games when leading at halftime.
Fresno State has now won 50 of its last 52 games when leading with five minutes remaining in the second half.
Fresno State has now won 33 of its last 34 games when converting at least 50 percent of its field goal attempts.
Fresno State has now won 30 consecutive games when scoring 70 points before its opponent.

Quotes
Rodney Terry, Fresno State head coach
On accomplishing the goal tonight…
"Well, we did. For the first part of the year, we have been saying that we have been playing faceless opponents and trying to improve on the things that we needed to improve on to get better with. We wanted to come out and establish a good tone on defense, sit down and guard and get back to having pressure up the floor like we have for the better half of the first part of the season. We have had a shorter rotation and it has made it a lot harder for us to sustain that over the course of the last couple of ball games. As we continue to get some bodies back, we will have some more depth to be able to get back to that."

On heading into conference play…
"I think we played a pretty competitive non-conference schedule. We have played all different styles of play. We have had a chance to work against different styles all non-conference. I think our league is as good as it has been since we have been in it. I think, from top to bottom, I think any body can beat anybody on any given night. A lot of our teams have done really well outside of conference play in this non-conference slate."

On New Williams…
"New is going to have to play his way in, in particular on defense. He will need to come in and show us that he can guard on the ball or off the ball and be a defender for us. Offensively, New can make some shots. He is a guy that has potential to score the ball when he really wants to score the ball. Just like Jahmel Taylor had to do when he got here, New is going to have to work on his ball-handling skills and his decision-making. It took JT some time to work on both of those aspects but by the end of the year, he was making some big time shots for us and he was a big time contributor for us to make it to the NCAA Tournament. New is going to have to play his way through it. He is going to have to get a feel of what we are trying to do offensively and defensively. He just needs to come in and bring energy to try and work his way onto the floor and try and get some minutes."

On being happy with the team at this point…
"I do like my team. I like my team when we have everybody. I think that when all of our guys are locked in on the same page that we can compete with just about anybody in the country. I think this team is trying really hard to get to play for 40 minutes. We only played for 30 minutes against Oregon and that is what cost us the game. You need to be able to compete for 40 minutes at a very high level on both ends of the floor and we are still struggling to do that."

Fresno State forward Bryson Williams
On the focus coming in to tonight's game…
"Our mindset and our focus was just to come out and play hard defense and just play Bulldog Basketball for 40 minutes. We just had to come out and bring it to them first."

On his career-high 30 points…
"I was just being aggressive. Coach Terry really worked on catching us in the paint and completing "hang your hat" moves and stuff like that, so I was just being aggressive and playing basketball."

On Nate Grimes…
"He is just energy. He gets a lot done and he has been working hard all summer and working hard in practice. He deserves it."

On facing Nevada at the Save Mart Center…
"What gets us excited is that it is a Mountain West conference game. Our conference starts our second half of the season. We are really excited and we just have to play Bulldog Basketball for forty minutes. We know it will be a hard fought game, but we just have to play our game and play defense like how we were taught to play."

Fresno State guard Ray Bowles
On coming out today after the Oregon game…
"One of our main focuses was to have energy and effort on defense. We just want continue to keep our defense rolling into conference. Playing active on defense was really the main focus."

On guarding their motion offense…
"It was a little bit difficult, but there are things that we played against that we worked on in practice. I think we did a good job there at the end staying in front of our guy and I think overall we played pretty hard on defense."

Up Next: Fresno State will open Mountain West play at home when the Bulldogs host the Nevada Wolf Pack on Dec. 27 at 7 p.m. PT. Tickets are on sale starting at $15 through www.Ticketmaster.com and the Save Mart Center Box Office. Mini-plans and group ticket packages are also available by calling 559-278-DOGS (and then pressing "1").

A limited number of single-game center section lower bowl tickets (Sections 109, 110, 122 and 123) are also available for $40.

"Just the Ticket to Build Our Community" – The Bulldog Scholarship Fund gives Bulldog alumni, fans and friends the opportunity to support Fresno State Athletics and the student-athletes who inspire them. For information about how you can support the Bulldog Scholarship Fund, please visit www.bulldogscholarshipfund.com or call 559-278-7160.