Fresno State edged 102-100 at Wyoming in historic 4OT thriller

Wednesday, February 8

Laramie, WY

6 p.m. PT

Fresno State

14-10, 6-6MW

100

102

Wyoming

16-9, 6-6MW

OT 1

OT 2

OT 3

OT 4

Fresno State

100

Wyoming

102

Photo by: Troy Babbitt-USA TODAY Sports

Fresno State edged 102-100 at Wyoming in historic 4OT thriller

2/8/2017 9:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The Fresno State men’s basketball team played its first-ever quadruple overtime game with Bulldogs’ redshirt sophomore guard Deshon Taylor scoring a career-high 32 points while setting a school-record with 17 made free throws.

By: Stephen Trembley / Director of New Media

LARAMIE, Wyo. --- The Fresno State men's basketball team was relentless and countered nearly everything the Wyoming Cowboys shot at them, but the 'Dogs came up just short in falling 102-100 inside Arena-Auditorium in the Bulldogs' first-ever quadruple overtime game.

How it happened: While the 'Dogs didn't get the outcome they wanted, Fresno State (14-10, 6-6 Mountain West) truly delivered a historic performance for the ages.

Fresno State redshirt sophomore guard Deshon Taylor scored a career-high 32 points, while sinking 17-of-18 at the free throw line to set a school record for most made free throws (17) in a single game.

Wyoming (16-9, 6-6 MW) drained 15 3-pointers, including seven triples by Jason McManamen, who finished with a team-high 30 points. Hayden Dalton added 21 points and 20 rebounds for the Cowboys.

Neither team led by more than seven points, when the Bulldogs jumped out to a 14-7 lead on the second of three 3-pointers made by Deshon Taylor with 13:44 left in the first half.

The Bulldogs trailed the Cowboys 30-29 at halftime, but Fresno State used a 10-3 run to start the second half and take a 39-33 lead over Wyoming early in the second half.

After Fresno State senior guard/forward Paul Watson made his only 3-pointer of the game to give the Bulldogs a 5-point advantage with 15 minutes to play, Wyoming answered with five straight points over the next two minutes to tie the game at 44-44.

The scoring moved mostly to the free throw line and long range with a few key mid-range jumpers down the stretch. There were three lead changes in the final five minutes of regulation before Dalton made a game-tying lay-up with 44 seconds left.

Deshon Taylor was whistled for a charge by veteran referee Verne Harris with 16 seconds remaining in the second half. But the Bulldogs' defense got a stop at the other end as McManamen missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer for Wyoming in the waning seconds of regulation.

While Wyoming grabbed a pair of 3-point leads in the first overtime, Fresno State junior guard Jahmel Taylor made a huge 3-pointer with 50 seconds on the clock to tie the tilt at 70-70. Both teams made three free throws in those final 50 seconds of the first overtime to force a second overtime with the score knotted at 73-73.

The game continued to be dominated by action at the free throw line with each team scoring nine of its 12 points in the second overtime, which ended tied at 85-85.

Each team only scored five points in the third overtime and the Bulldogs were down five players (four fouled out/one injured) once freshman Bryson Williams fouled out midway through the fourth overtime when the score was tied 95-95.

Shortly thereafter, Wyoming's Jeremy Lieberman hit two jumpers, with the second coming when just 34 seconds were left and giving the Cowboys a 101-97 advantage.

Deshon Taylor kept attacking and added two more free throws. McManamen then missed the back-end of a pair of free throws to give Fresno State one final chance with 11 seconds left. But the 'Dogs couldn't initially get a shot off and had to call timeout with 3.5 seconds left in the fourth overtime.

Freshman guard Ryan Beddeo inbounded to Jahmel Taylor, who was fouled with 2.0 seconds on the clock and made the first free throw, but was called for a lane violation by referee Rick Randall when intentionally trying to miss the second free throw to set up a potential game-tying put-back.

Quoteable:
Rodney Terry, Fresno State head coach
"I thought our guys, we were disappointed obviously with our loss on Saturday (to San Diego State), but we came back in and had two good days of practice and this group has practiced well all year. They came back and competed and we put ourselves in position to win the ball game by competing and just staying the course against a team on their home court. We were in situations tonight where a lot of guys hadn't been in those types of situations, especially late in games, but that's what we got into with all the foul trouble and all the guys that weren't in the game. You saw tonight we went all of the way down to the end of our bench, but I thought our guys came in off the bench and gave us good minutes and gave us a chance to still win this game."

Player Notes:
Deshon Taylor (32 points, including 17-for-18 FT, 9 rebounds)
Scored a career-high 32 points with career-best nine rebounds … set a school record with 17 made free throws … played a school record 55 minutes … scored at least 25 points for the second time in his career … scored at least 20 points for the third time … ninth game in double figures … has scored at least 18 points in each of the last seven games … has made at least 12 free throws in four of the last seven games.

Jahmel Taylor (18 points, including 4-for-7 3FG, 6 rebounds)
Scored 18 points for the third time this season … played a school record 55 minutes … made four 3-pointers for the ninth time this season … 16th game this season with multiple 3-pointers … had nine rebounds – one shy of tying his career-high of 10 in 85-70 win over Wyoming earlier this season … has averaged 9.5 rebounds per game against Wyoming this season.

Team Notes:

This was the first-ever quadruple overtime game in program history.
This was the 90th overtime game in program history and 18th since Fresno State head coach Rodney Terry arrived in 2011.
The Bulldogs are now 46-44 all-time in overtime games and 7-11 in overtime games in the Terry Era.
This was Fresno State's first overtime loss since losing 77-72 at Nevada in a single overtime game at Nevada on Feb. 13, 2016. Fresno State is now 2-1 this season in overtime games.
This was the second quadruple overtime game in the NCAA this season and the second in as many days.
This was the 61st game in program history in which Fresno State scored at least 100 points and the first since last season's 111-104 double overtime win over UNLV on Feb. 6, 2016.
10 of Fresno State's 12 road games have been decided by nine points or fewer.
Fresno State committed just 11 turnovers in 60 minutes of playing time.
Fresno State tied a school record for most fouls (35) in a single game – matching the mark set back at Minnesota on Dec. 20, 1997.
This was the eighth time this season Fresno State scored 80 or more points.

Next Up: Fresno State will complete its Front Range road trip at Colorado State on Saturday at 1 p.m. PT.

Fresno State returns home for a two-game homestand the following week with home games against San Jose State on Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. PT and New Mexico on Feb. 18 at 3 p.m. PT.

Single-game tickets are available at the Save Mart Center Box Office and www.ticketmaster.com.

3-game mini-plans are also available through the Bulldog Ticket Office (northeast corner of the Save Mart Center) or by calling 559-278-DOGS and then pressing "1."

"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.