Buccaneers Bracket Bust Bulldogs

Fresno State drops its Bracket Buster game 66-62 to East Tennessee State

By Nathan Hathaway

Fresno State has been known all season as a team that likes to keep its games slow. Plodding, grind-it-out basketball. Not a lot of race-down-the-court show-time heroics.

So it goes without saying that the Bulldogs aren’t used to having to zip up and down the floor.

The up-the-court part in Saturday’s 66-62 loss to East Tennessee State was just how Fresno State (12-12) liked it—down-tempo, lots of walking.

But going down the floor was an entirely different story.

East Tennessee State (23-4) used a million-mile-per-hour offense to win for the 15th straight time and dismantle the Bulldogs in the ESPN Bracket Buster game.

The Buccaneers’ Tim Smith raced his way to 26 points, going up, over, under, around and through Fresno State’s defense.

“ Like they say in football, speed kills,” Fresno State coach Ray Lopes said. “His speed really makes him difficult to guard.”

With the Bulldogs down by two points in the closing seconds, the Buccaneers pulled down three offensive rebounds on a missed jump shot and two missed free throws before Smith hit two free throws to seal the win.

“ We were just playing volleyball with it,” Fresno State forward Chris Adams said. “We’ll probably be working on rebounding drills in practice.

“ That’s just the way the ball bounces.”

It was the 15th straight win for East Tennessee State.

The Buccaneers opened the game on a 10-0 run and later went on an 8-0 run before Fresno State came back to tie the game at 23.

But then East Tennessee State reeled off 13 straight, including six points by Smith.

Fresno State came back to tie the game twice in the second half, but never took a lead.

“ It’s frustrating,” Lopes said. “They make their shots and we don’t make our shots.

“ We just didn’t make the big plays.”

Bulldogs point guard Shantay Legans, who had the unenviable task of guarding Smith, still made the most of Saturday’s game, posting his first career double-double with 13 points and 10 assists. Legans was only three rebounds shy of posting a triple-double.

Dreike Bouldin had a double-double of his own with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Marcus West (13), Mustafa Al-Sayyad (12) and Chris Adams (11) also scored in double figures for Fresno State.

Zakee Wadood (13 points, 11 rebounds) and Jerald Fields (13 points, 12 rebounds) were the only other Buccaneers in double-digits.

The Bulldogs had only Sunday to rest before they have to play at Rice tonight at 5.

The last time the teams played, at the Save Mart Center in January, the Owls edged Fresno State 65-63 on a last-second shot by Jason McKrieth. McKrieth finished with 24 points. Michael Harris had 16 points for Rice.

Lopes said that before Saturday’s game, he said he didn’t think the fatigue from playing in Houston with only a day of rest would play a role in the game.

But after the game, he wasn’t quite so sure.

“ It think it’s got a chance to [be a factor],” Lopes said.

Lopes said he would use a “gimmick defense” to try to control Rice, particularly Harris, who scored 27 points and had 14 rebounds Saturday against Louisiana-Lafayette.

Rice sits in a three-way tie for first place in the Western Athletic Conference with UTEP and Hawaii. Fresno State (8-6 in WAC play) is one-and-a-half games behind the league leaders.