The No. 10 seed Fresno State men’s basketball team closed out the Mountain West Tournament with a first round exit, losing 69-53 to the No. 7 seed University of Nevada, Reno on Wednesday, March 12, at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The lack of size continued to be a problem all game, as the Bulldogs were out rebounded 42-33 and gave up 48-points in the paint.
After the Wolf Pack opened the game with a 22-5 run, the Bulldogs were stunned from the opening whistle. Head Coach Vance Walberg credited it to the Wolf Pack’s defense.
“I would give Nevada the credit on their defense,” Walberg said. “We got to get some buckets inside and some easy buckets, and they did a good job taking that away from us. I don’t think it was nerves, I think the players were ready to go.”
The Bulldogs got contributions from four double-digit scorers, those being freshman forward Elijah Price (17), freshman guard Brian Amuneke (16), sophomore guard Zaon Collins and junior guard Jasir Tremble (14).
To go along with his 17-points, Price grabbed 11 rebounds to add to his 11 double-double total on the season—a program record previously held by Paul George.
The Wolf Pack was led by fifth-year guard Kobe Sanders, who earned All-Mountain West Third Team honors. Sanders was on triple-double watch, recording 17 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Tyler Rolison also pitched in with 15 points, three assists, three rebounds, two blocks and a steal.
The Bulldogs are no strangers to adversity, dealing with gambling scandals and injuries all season. In fact, entering today’s game, the Bulldogs have used 10 different starting lineups, tied for 12th-most in the country.
However, with those 10 starting lineups, players like Tremble, who averaged 14.5 points over the last four games and Amuneke, who recorded nine double-figure games in 14 appearances, have flourished.
What Happened?
The Bulldogs opened the game in a high 2-3 zone, guarding players well above the 3-point line. As a result, the Wolf Pack found open teammates once the ball entered the paint, earning themselves an early 8-2 lead from open shots beyond the arc and put-backs.
With the Bulldogs remaining in a zone defense, they struggled to box out and grab rebounds, giving up eight second-chance points en route to the Wolf Pack’s 19-5 lead.
However, after calming down some early game nerves, the Bulldogs began to find their footing on offense after back-to-back 3-pointers from Amuneke, while the Wolf Pack began to miss their shots to trim the lead down to 44-32 heading into halftime.
At halftime, the Bulldogs were led by the scoring of Price (9), Amuneke (8) and junior forward Alex Crawford (7). The Wolf Pack had a well-balanced scoring effort with nine players contributing to the scoring column.
The Wolf Pack opened the second half aggressively on the offensive glass, grabbing four offensive rebounds and converting them into five second-chance points, but the Bulldogs kept themselves afloat with some points sparked by the play of Amuneke to bring the score to 56-42.
But, the Wolf Pack would pull away with a slight 69-53 lead spearheaded by Sanders. The Wolf Pack found open lanes to the basket with the Bulldogs’ big man rotation of juniors Mor Seck and Pierre Genesete Jr. sitting on the bench.
With the bigs on the bench, the Bulldogs shifted to a man-to-man defense, with Price running the center position. Despite that, the Bulldogs still got beaten off the dribble, giving up 22 paint points to add to their 84-65 lead.
To close out the game, the Wolf Pack continued to take advantage of the lack of size in the paint on the way to their 86-71 win.
With a new roster this season and no players having Division I experience, Walberg said he thought the season would go a lot differently.
“We had two freshmen and then there’s three [junior college] players, so there’s a learning curve,” Walberg said. “It’s something that I definitely did not want to see this season. I thought we would be a lot better, but again, things happen for a reason and we’re going to learn and we’re going to get better.”
