Bulldogs win OT thriller at Colorado State

Saturday, January 6

Fort Collins, Colo.

2:30 p.m. PT

Fresno State

Colorado State

Bulldogs win OT thriller at Colorado State

1/6/2018 6:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The Fresno State men’s basketball team rallied from a 10-point deficit to win 82-79 in overtime at Colorado State. The ’Dogs will next host Boise State on Tuesday at 8 p.m. PT.

By: Stephen Trembley / Director of New Media

FORT COLLINS, Colo. --- The Fresno State men's basketball team won an 82-79 overtime road thriller at the Colorado State Rams on Saturday afternoon inside Moby Arena.

Fresno State (12-5, 2-2 Mountain West) rallied back from a 10-point second half deficit to force overtime and outplayed Colorado State (8-9, 1-3 MW) in the extra session to even the Bulldogs' conference record at 2-2 through four games for the third straight season.

Fresno State junior guard Deshon Taylor scored a game-high 22 points with five rebounds, three assists and three steals for the 'Dogs, who earned their first win in Fort Collins since 1994.

The 'Dogs will return to the San Joaquin Valley for a two-game homestand, which starts Tuesday at 8 p.m. PT against first-place Boise State and concludes Saturday at 4 p.m. PT versus New Mexico.

How it happened: Fresno State went on a 15-2 run early in the first half, which upped its lead from 8-7 to 23-9 in just over six minutes of play. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs had seven assists on its first 10 made field goals while working its way to a 39-33 halftime lead on the road over the Rams.

CSU scored the first eight points of the second half to retake the lead at 41-39 before Jaron Hopkins swished a 3-pointer to answer. The Rams made their first seven shots after halftime and Fresno State trailed 59-49 with under nine minutes to play.

The 'Dogs then went on an 11-1 run to even the score at 60-60 when Sam Bittner splashed home a 3-pointer with 6:14 remaining. Bryson Williams then gave the Bulldogs the lead moments later on a put-back lay-up for a 62-60 lead with 4:42 to go.

The game stayed tight down the stretch, which including a huge deep 3-pointer off the hands of Ray Bowles, Jr., with 1:27 left on the clock in the second half, and both defenses came up with big stops in the final minute of regulation en route to the 69-69 deadlock.

In overtime, Fresno State scored the first six points for a 75-69 advantage over CSU and never gave up the lead again as the Bulldogs earned a hard-fought 82-79 road win while playing its second consecutive overtime game.

The 'Dogs got a critical lift off the glass and at the charity stripe - outscoring the Rams 20-4 in second chance points and 19-13 at the free throw line.

Quotes:
Rodney Terry, Fresno State head coach
"We never make it easy, right? It's always a battle. We got out of the gate strong and we had to finish strong. I just think a couple of nights ago we just didn't finish the game obviously. We had to find a way the other night in terms putting some consecutive stops together and then chip away offensively and try to execute the things that we were trying to get done. I thought we did that tonight down the stretch.

"We talked the whole game about help-side defense and JT (Jahmel Taylor) was in a good position. We did a good job with good ball pressure on the other side and made it difficult for those guys to initiate their offense and any time you pass the ball across the court like that if you're in the right position you have a chance for something like that to happen for you and JT was right where he needed to be."

Deshon Taylor, Fresno State junior guard
"Basketball is a game of runs. We were down 10 and we just kept fighting hard, just like Utah State kept fighting hard. We were honed in one our defense, trying to get as many stops as we kept getting stops and executing on the offensive end and it paid off for us at the end. Tonight, I felt that everybody wanted to make sure we didn't go back home 0-2 (for the road trip), so everybody kept fighting and our bench was great tonight. Terrell, even though he didn't play that much tonight, he really kept everybody together."

Team Notes:

Fresno State has now won 19 of its last 25 games in its next game after a loss.
16 of Fresno State's last 21 road games have been decided by nine points or fewer.
Fresno State has now won 23 of its last 33 games when playing a MW team.
Fresno State improved to 13-12 in its last 24 true road games.
Fresno State has now outrebounded its opponent in 14 of 17 games this season.
Fresno State improved to 47-45 all-time in overtime games.

Up Next: Fresno State hosts Boise State on Tuesday at 8 p.m. PT at the Save Mart Center. Tickets are on sale starting at just $10 through www.Ticketmaster.com and the Save Mart Center Box Office. Mini-plans and group ticket packages are also on sale through the Bulldog Ticket Office or 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.