Bulldogs earn hard-fought 81-73 win at New Mexico

Saturday, February 16

Albuquerque, N.M.

4 p.m. PT

Fresno State

19-6, 10-3MW

New Mexico

11-14, 5-8MW

Fresno State

New Mexico

Photo by: Keith Kountz

Bulldogs earn hard-fought 81-73 win at New Mexico

2/16/2019 7:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Fresno State senior guard Deshon Taylor scored 26 points with three rebounds, five assists and three steals to lead the Bulldogs to their Mountain West-leading sixth conference road win this season. Fresno State next hosts Air Force on Wednesday at 7 p.m. PT. Tickets start at $15.

By: Stephen Trembley / Director of New Media

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. --- The Fresno State men's basketball team defeated the New Mexico Lobos 81-73 on Saturday night in front of 12,494 fans at The Pit.

Fresno State (19-6, 10-3 Mountain West) improved to 6-1 on the road in conference play by making 14 3-pointers, getting important defensive stops down the stretch and overcoming foul trouble to pull away in the final minute for the Bulldogs' second-ever win over the Lobos in The Pit.

Fresno State senior guard Deshon Taylor scored a team-high 26 points, which included five 3-pointers, to lead the Bulldogs, who have now won at least 10 conference contests in each of the last five seasons, including this season.

Braxton Huggins added 19 points – all in the second half – and Noah Blackwell had 11 points with four assists for Fresno State. UNM (11-14, 5-8 MW) was led by Vance Jackson, who had a game-high 30 points.

How it happened: Huggins, who is one of the best scorers in the MW, was called for two personal fouls in the first 55 seconds of the contest, and later picked up his third personal foul later in the first half.

Despite playing through foul trouble, Fresno State built a 30-22 lead on UNM late in the opening half, but the Lobos answered with a 16-5 run over the final five minutes and 30 seconds before halftime.

New Mexico scored the first five points of the second half to extend its run to 21-5 before Taylor hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game and Huggins turned a steal into an old-fashioned 3-point play with a lay-up in transition and a free throw to cut the Bulldogs' deficit to two. Huggins added another free throw on the next possession after a strong drive to the basket despite playing with those three fouls.

A block by Grimes moments later set up a lay-up by Sam Bittner, which gave Fresno State the lead again at 44-43. Blackwell then a step-back 3-pointer to make it a 12-0 run and shoot the Bulldogs in front 47-43. The Lobos countered with a 10-2 to retake the lead in the high-energy affair.

Later trailing 57-55, Fresno State then made four 3-pointers on four straight possessions to take a 67-61 lead, including three by Huggins. The Bulldogs never trailed again over the course of the last eight minutes of the game and iced the game in the final minute with a strong defensive effort.

As a team, Fresno State outshot UNM 41 percent (25-for-61) to 38 percent (19-for-50) from the field and the Bulldogs took advantage of their opportunities in transition – outscoring the Lobos 18-7 in fast break points. Fresno State had nine steals, compared to just one by UNM in the 40-minute battle.

Quotes:
Justin Hutson, Fresno State head coach
"We missed a lot of shots early on, but we hung in there. They were all good shots, even when we were missing them. I liked how the guys kept at it. And guys made some stops at the end."

Deshon Taylor, Fresno State senior guard
On tying a career-high with five 3-pointers…
"That's just how the shots presented itself. I know I didn't want to pass up good shots. And I felt I had to put more of the scoring on my shoulder when Braxton got into foul trouble. We fought down tooth and nail for this one. Our guys brought it. And we got another one today."

Player Notes:
Deshon Taylor – 26 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 steals

Scored 25 or more points for the third time this season (eighth of his career).
Has scored at least 17 points in four of the last five games.
Had at least five assists for the ninth time this season.
Had three steals for the second straight game.
Tied a career-high with five made 3-pointers (third time in his career).

Braxton Huggins – 19 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks

Scored at least 19 points for the fifth straight game.
All 19 points scored in the second half.
Made at least three 3-pointers for the fourth straight game.
Had at least five rebounds for fourth time in the last five games.
Tied a career-high with two blocks (second time this season).

Team Notes:

Fresno State first-year head coach Justin Hutson continues to lead the country with a 19-6 overall record (.760 winning percentage among first-time NCAA Division I head coaches this season.
Fresno State improved to 6-2 in true road games this season (20th-best road record in the nation).
Fresno State has won a MW-leading six conference road games so far this season.
Fresno State has won 10 of its last 13 true road games.
Fresno State has won the second-most MW games (45) in the last four seasons.
Fresno State has won 17 of its last 21 games (7-2 in last nine MW games).
Fresno State has won at least 10 conference games in each of the last five seasons, including this season (only MW program to do so in that same timeframe).
The win gives Fresno State a season sweep of New Mexico to give the Bulldogs the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Lobos for 2019 MW Tournament seeding (if needed). This is the third time in program history that Fresno State has beat UNM twice in the same season (1947-48 and 2016-17).
Fresno State has made at least four 3-pointers in every game this season. The Bulldogs improved to 28-5 in their last 33 games when making at least 10 3-point field goals in a game.

Up Next: Fresno State hosts Air Force on Wednesday at 7 p.m. PT. Tickets start at $15.

The Bulldogs will then travel to play at No. 7/6 Nevada on Saturday at 5 p.m. PT on CBS Sports Network and 940 AM ESPN Radio.

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