The Fresno State men’s basketball team came up big in the waning minutes of a close road game against the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners, ultimately coming away with a 63-61 win Saturday night at the Icardo Center.
Junior guard Marvelle Harris led the way with season-high 29 points for Fresno State (3-6) while adding six rebounds and five assists. The first road win of the season for the ‘Dogs took a bit of help from the other team as CSUB guard Dashawn Richmond asked for a timeout while the game was tied at 61-61 but the Roadrunners did not have any timeouts remaining.
Marvelle Harris was then sent to the free throw line after the technical foul and hit both free throws which put the team up two points with time running out, leading to Fresno State freshman Terrell Carter ll blocking CSUB’s potential game-tying jumper. After Carter was fouled, he missed both free throws which opened the door for the Roadrunners again but Richmond was not able to make the buzzer-beating three pointer at the end of regulation. Although missing the last shot, Richmond lead the Roadrunners with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field.
Fresno State’s Julien Lewis scored 11 points on 3-of-7 shooting from the field while Emmanuel Owootoah added eight on 2-of-4 shooting. Sophomore Paul Watson failed to register a field goal in 32 minutes of play.
“The difference in this win tonight and winning on the road is to guard and to guard for 40 minutes,” Fresno State head coach Rodney Terry said after the game. “We found a way at the end of the game to come away with big plays on defense. I thought Emmanuel came into the game and gave us great energy that really changed the game defensively tonight while allowing Marvelle to get into his rhythm after his four early turnovers.
“We know we have to take a huge step forward with our interior defense, and that’s something we’ll have to continue to work on. Marvelle made huge shots, shot 10-of-10 from the line and made plays when he had to make them. We didn’t get rattled, we stayed with what we were doing and we were still able to get him the basketball.”
CSUB (1-7) suffered its third loss in a row after falling to the ‘Dogs on Saturday.
The ‘Dogs play Wednesday night against the Texas Tech Red Raiders (5-1) at the United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. They will be back at the Save Mart Center on Saturday to take on Cal Poly.