Fresno State dominates Cal 95-73 for 6th straight win

Wednesday, December 19

Fresno, Calif.

7 p.m. PT

Fresno State

8-2

California

4-6

California

Fresno State

Photo by: Keith Kountz

Fresno State dominates Cal 95-73 for 6th straight win

12/19/2018 10:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The Fresno State men’s basketball team remained undefeated at home with a 22-point victory over the Pac-12’s California Golden Bears. The ’Dogs next host UT-Martin on Saturday at 4 p.m. PT.

By: Stephen Trembley / Director of New Media

FRESNO, Calif. --- The Fresno State men's basketball team delivered a dominant team effort in defeating the California Golden Bears 95-73 on Wednesday night at the Save Mart Center.

Fresno State (8-2) has now won six straight games and the Bulldogs are 6-0 at home this season heading into their final two nonconference contests before starting Mountain West play.

Six Bulldogs scored in double figures – led by junior guard New Williams, who had a career-high 19 points – in a game Fresno State led for more than 30 minutes and by as many as 25 midway through the second half.

Fresno State redshirt junior guard Noah Blackwell added 13 points, nine assists and seven rebounds in his third consecutive start.

How it happened: After the teams traded 12-4 runs to open the game, Fresno State outscored Cal 28-16 for the rest of the first half and the Bulldogs remained in control of the tempo the rest of the way.

The 'Dogs took their first lead of the half when Noah Blackwell sunk a 3-pointer with 9:37 left in the half and the Bulldogs were up a dozen at the half, 44-32. After 20 minutes, Braxton Huggins and Nate Grimes each had 10 points.

The Golden Bears scored with 18:41 to start the second half, but then the Bulldogs' defense held them without a field goal for the next five minutes and the offense recorded over 90 points for the second consecutive game.

Fresno State shot 50.9 percent from the field and had 17 assists on 29 made field goals. The Bulldogs also limited a good 3-point shooting in Cal to just 20 percent (3-for-15) from beyond the 3-point arc.

Quotes:
Justin Hutson, Fresno State head coach
On getting settled into a momentum…
"I thought we settled down. Cal came out and drove us and caught us on our heels, but we did not panic. We moved on to the next play with good leadership. Sam Bittner really leads and Noah Blackwell is stepping up and being a leader. The guys did not panic and we were able to get on our run and settle down."

On winning against a Pac-12 opponent…
"It will feel good for tonight and then we will be on to the next game for Saturday, then have a nice Christmas break. We have to make sure we get this next one on Saturday so that way our guys will have a couple of well-deserved days off for Christmas. They have been working hard with finals, study hall, and then we have a basketball game. A lot of them have finals tomorrow, so we have to make sure we prepare and get this one on Saturday so they can have a nice break."

On Noah Blackwell…

"He is solid. We just have to keep him out of foul trouble and that is a group effort. I think he does a good job at playing smart. We had six guys in double-figures and I think we had a low turnover rate until the end, we got a little bit sloppy at the end. Cal is a 40% 3-point team and to go 3-for-15 and 20% was a big difference for us tonight."

On how he feels about the team's performance right now…
"It feels good for today. Putting together a game like that at home and in front of a nice crowd always feels good. Now we have to come back and show all of the good things we did and how that worked, but we also have to get better on some other things as well."

Sam Bittner, Fresno State senior forward
On how it feels to defeat a Pac-12 opponent…
"I think we have a lot of great teams in the Mountain West including Nevada, San Diego State, Utah State and us as well. Coming in here and beating a Pac-12 team brings a lot of recognition to the Mountain West and we will keep getting better from here."

Player Notes:
New Williams – 19 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal

Scored a career-high 19 points
Made a career-high 11 free throws on 14 free throw attempts
Tied his career-high with five rebounds
Scored in double-figures for the sixth time this season
Led the team in scoring for the first time this season

Braxton Huggins – 18 points, 2 assists, 1 rebound

Scored in double figures for the ninth consecutive game
Was 7-for-8 from the free throw line
Made a team-high three from behind the arch

Nate Grimes – 17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals

Scored a season-high 17 points
Scored in double-figures for the fifth time this season
Tied his career-high with two steals

Team Notes

Fresno State has outscored four autonomy five conference schools (TCU, Northwestern, Miami and California) by a combined score of 318-287 this season.
Fresno State beat its first Pac-12 opponent at home since Utah in 2011 (first overall since 2016).
Fresno State has won its last six consecutive games.
Fresno State is undefeated at home this season, 6-0.
Fresno State scored a season-high 95 points and have scored over 90 points three times this season.
Six Bulldogs scored in double-figures – the most this season.
Fresno State has made at least seven 3-pointers in every game this season (8 vs. Cal).
Fresno State is in the middle of a 12-game stretch of playing exclusively in the state of California. Fresno State 7-1 in the first eight games of the Golden State run.

Up Next: Fresno State will host Tennessee-Martin on Saturday at 4 p.m. PT inside the Save Mart Center. Tickets for the game start at $10 at the Save Mart Center Box Office and www.ticketmaster.com.

"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.