Thursday, March 9
Las Vegas, Nev.
2:30 p.m. PT
Fresno State
20-11
65
vs
60
New Mexico
17-14
1
2
F
New Mexico
35
25
60
Fresno State
36
29
65
Photo by: Mountain West/Clarkson Creative
’Dogs fight back to take down Lobos in MW quarterfinal
3/9/2017 6:34:00 PM | Men's Basketball
No. 4 seed Fresno State will face the top-seeded Nevada Wolf Pack on Friday night at 7 p.m. PT in the Mountain West semifinals. The game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network and 940 AM ESPN Radio.
LAS VEGAS --- The fourth-seeded Fresno State men's basketball team defeated the fifth-seeded New Mexico Lobos 65-60 in a Mountain West quarterfinal on Thursday afternoon inside the Thomas & Mack Center.
Fresno State (20-11) will next face regular season MW champion Nevada (26-6) on Friday night at 7 p.m. PT in the conference semifinals on CBS Sports Network and 940 AM ESPN Radio. Fresno State was the only MW school to go 2-0 against Nevada during league play.
How it happened: Fresno State erased a 12-point first half deficit and held a 36-35 lead at halftime as Bulldogs' redshirt sophomore guard Deshon Taylor made a 3-pointer in the waning seconds before the break.
New Mexico (17-14) responded well out of the locker room with the Lobos scoring the first six points and neither team led by more than six points in the second half. There were eight lead changes in the last 11 minutes of the game.
With the Bulldogs trailing 54-53 with just over three minutes remaining in regulation, Deshon Taylor splashed in the go-ahead step-back deep 3-pointer to give Fresno State the lead for good.
The 'Dogs made three critical defensive stops on the next three possessions. And then Fresno State surged in front of UNM 60-54 as redshirt junior guard Jaron Hopkins grabbed a steal and found senior forward Cullen Russo for a transition slam dunk.
But New Mexico didn't go away. The Lobos' Elijah Brown hit a 3-pointer with 1:21 left before Bulldogs' junior guard Jahmel Taylor swished in a deep 3-pointer with 17 seconds remaining to keep the lead at six points. Brown answered with another 3-pointer with four seconds on the clock to once again cut the Fresno State lead in half.
Deshon Taylor sealed the win by calmly hitting two free throws in the final seconds. Taylor finished with a game-high 21 points, including a perfect 8-for-8 clip at the free throw line, for Fresno State, who won their sixth straight game.
Quoteable:
Rodney Terry, Fresno State head coach
"First off, I'd like to congratulate New Mexico for a good year. They are an extremely well coached team and a very difficult team to play against. We've had three really good games with them this year. We have a lot of respect for Tim Williams and the career that he's had in the Mountain West conference, and one of the better scorers is Elijah Brown, who puts a lot of pressure on you. I give my guys a lot of credit for hanging tough and working the game for 40 minutes at a very high level."
On the Bulldogs' defense and free throw shooting…
"We're an aggressive, defensive team, but on the contrary, we led the league in free throws attempts ourselves. We shot a lot of free throws, and we made the third most. So I like the balance between the two of those in terms of us being an aggressive defensive team. But we also found ways to put fouls on other teams, as well. Tonight, we did a really good job at the foul line, as well."
On how last season's MW championship run and NCAA Tournament appearance influenced the team's approach this season and any similarities…
"We've predicated everything over the last month of the season of working hard defensively. And you win games this time of year with your defense. I thought our guys the last month of the season really tried to make a really good effort to be a better defensive team… We've done a pretty good job of playing against some really good offensive teams and doing a good job of holding the field goal percentages down and trying to play without fouling them. We've done a good job of that down the stretch."
Jaron Hopkins, Fresno State redshirt junior guard
On what he learned as a redshirt watching last year's team win the MW championship…
"We took a lot from that crew last year, we knew they were a poised group, calm and confident in situations like this. Just learning from them and actually getting to watch Marvelle (Harris) and Cezar (Guerrero) and those guys. That was great for us. We learned a lot from them."
Deshon Taylor, Fresno State redshirt sophomore guard
On what he learned as a redshirt watching last year's team win the MW championship…
"I learned a lot from the seniors and the coaching staff. I asked a lot of questions on what I could do better as a player and help this team. Those were great leaders last year, and they helped us.
On how the Bulldogs' mindset during the game…
"We're focusing on defense, that's what we've been harping on, defensive rebounding, because New Mexico is a good offense rebounding team. I felt our defense was really good today."
Team Notes:
Fresno State (20-11) will next face regular season MW champion Nevada (26-6) on Friday night at 7 p.m. PT in the conference semifinals on CBS Sports Network and 940 AM ESPN Radio. Fresno State was the only MW school to go 2-0 against Nevada during league play.
How it happened: Fresno State erased a 12-point first half deficit and held a 36-35 lead at halftime as Bulldogs' redshirt sophomore guard Deshon Taylor made a 3-pointer in the waning seconds before the break.
New Mexico (17-14) responded well out of the locker room with the Lobos scoring the first six points and neither team led by more than six points in the second half. There were eight lead changes in the last 11 minutes of the game.
With the Bulldogs trailing 54-53 with just over three minutes remaining in regulation, Deshon Taylor splashed in the go-ahead step-back deep 3-pointer to give Fresno State the lead for good.
The 'Dogs made three critical defensive stops on the next three possessions. And then Fresno State surged in front of UNM 60-54 as redshirt junior guard Jaron Hopkins grabbed a steal and found senior forward Cullen Russo for a transition slam dunk.
But New Mexico didn't go away. The Lobos' Elijah Brown hit a 3-pointer with 1:21 left before Bulldogs' junior guard Jahmel Taylor swished in a deep 3-pointer with 17 seconds remaining to keep the lead at six points. Brown answered with another 3-pointer with four seconds on the clock to once again cut the Fresno State lead in half.
Deshon Taylor sealed the win by calmly hitting two free throws in the final seconds. Taylor finished with a game-high 21 points, including a perfect 8-for-8 clip at the free throw line, for Fresno State, who won their sixth straight game.
Quoteable:
Rodney Terry, Fresno State head coach
"First off, I'd like to congratulate New Mexico for a good year. They are an extremely well coached team and a very difficult team to play against. We've had three really good games with them this year. We have a lot of respect for Tim Williams and the career that he's had in the Mountain West conference, and one of the better scorers is Elijah Brown, who puts a lot of pressure on you. I give my guys a lot of credit for hanging tough and working the game for 40 minutes at a very high level."
On the Bulldogs' defense and free throw shooting…
"We're an aggressive, defensive team, but on the contrary, we led the league in free throws attempts ourselves. We shot a lot of free throws, and we made the third most. So I like the balance between the two of those in terms of us being an aggressive defensive team. But we also found ways to put fouls on other teams, as well. Tonight, we did a really good job at the foul line, as well."
On how last season's MW championship run and NCAA Tournament appearance influenced the team's approach this season and any similarities…
"We've predicated everything over the last month of the season of working hard defensively. And you win games this time of year with your defense. I thought our guys the last month of the season really tried to make a really good effort to be a better defensive team… We've done a pretty good job of playing against some really good offensive teams and doing a good job of holding the field goal percentages down and trying to play without fouling them. We've done a good job of that down the stretch."
Jaron Hopkins, Fresno State redshirt junior guard
On what he learned as a redshirt watching last year's team win the MW championship…
"We took a lot from that crew last year, we knew they were a poised group, calm and confident in situations like this. Just learning from them and actually getting to watch Marvelle (Harris) and Cezar (Guerrero) and those guys. That was great for us. We learned a lot from them."
Deshon Taylor, Fresno State redshirt sophomore guard
On what he learned as a redshirt watching last year's team win the MW championship…
"I learned a lot from the seniors and the coaching staff. I asked a lot of questions on what I could do better as a player and help this team. Those were great leaders last year, and they helped us.
On how the Bulldogs' mindset during the game…
"We're focusing on defense, that's what we've been harping on, defensive rebounding, because New Mexico is a good offense rebounding team. I felt our defense was really good today."
Team Notes:
- With the win, Fresno State improves to 5-3 all-time in the Mountain West tournament and advances to its second consecutive semifinal. The Bulldogs are the defending Mountain West tournament champions.
- Fresno State overcame a 12-point deficit with 10:05 left in the first half. This tied Fresno State's largest deficit overcome this season, matching their 12-point deficit with 15:17 left in the first half in a 73-64 win vs. Air Force on Feb. 1, 2017.
- Fresno State has won 21 of its last 28 games when playing a MW team.
- Fresno State has won 11 of its last 15 games decided by five points or less.
- Fresno State improved to 15-1 this season when holding its opponent to under 70 points.
- Fresno State improved to 44-7 since the start of the 2014-15 season when limiting an opponent to under 70 points.
- Fresno State improved to 18-2 this season when leading at halftime.
- Fresno State improved to 11-2 in tournament games (non-conference or postseason) since the start of the 2015-16 season.
- This is 21st time in program history the Bulldogs have won at least 20 games in a single season.
- This was 200th career game for Fresno State head coach Rodney Terry in six seasons with the Bulldogs. Terry has 105 career wins, which ranks third on the Bulldogs' all-time head coaching wins list.
Team Stats
NM
FS
FG%
.407
.368
3FG%
.308
.333
FT%
.545
.833
RB
37
34
TO
11
11
STL
5
5
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
21
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
8
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
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