Pack bites 'Dogs again

Men's basketball loses to Nevada for the second time this season

By Nathan Hathaway

Fresno State’s 64-55 loss to Nevada on Saturday looked pretty even on paper.

Nevada shot 20 for 55 from the field. Fresno State was 21 for 56. Nevada had 40 rebounds. Fresno State had 38. Fresno State had 10 turnovers, Nevada six. Both teams had five 3-pointers.

It’s too bad for the Bulldogs college basketball games aren’t played on paper.

Nevada’s Kirk Snyder, the preseason Western Athletic Conference player of the year, scored a game-high 17 points in leading the Wolf Pack to its second victory of the season over the Bulldogs (12-14, 8-8 WAC) and push Nevada’s lead over sixth-place Fresno State to three games.

Nevada (18-8, 11-5 WAC) now sits in a tie for third in the conference, a game and a half behind first-place Texas-El Paso.

Once again, as it has so many times this season, it came down to the Bulldogs not being able to hit big shots at the right time.

Oh, Fresno State hit some shots. The Bulldogs nailed 6 of their first 8 and hit 4 of 5, including 2 for 2 from 3-point range, during an 11-2 run to open the second half.

The Bulldogs just didn’t make shots at the end of the game.

Fresno State went 1 for 6 in the final four and a half minutes.

“ We just don’t make shots to win,” point guard Shantay Legans said. “We’ve just got to make shots when it counts.

“ We’ve got to do that for 40 minutes. There’s nothing else besides just making shots.”

The Wolf Pack, on the other hand, found scoring when and where it needed it. During a 20-6 Nevada run that took more than seven minutes and turned a four-point deficit into a 10-point lead, the Wolf Pack shot 8 for 10 from the field.

“ Down the stretch, I thought we executed,” Nevada coach Trent Johnson said. “I thought that was the key for us.”

Bulldogs center Mustafa Al-Sayyad, who seemed to have his best game of the season in the post, scored a career-high 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting.

“ When Moose is one-on-one,” Fresno State coach Ray Lopes said, “he’s got a good chance to score the ball.”

Other starters scoring in double figures for the Bulldogs were Marcus West with 12 points and Legans with 11 points to go along with nine assists. Francis Koffi also had 11 off the bench, his best offensive output since scoring 12 against Pacific in December.

Fresno State lost for the 11th time in 16 games decided by 10 points or less.

The biggest discrepancy in the game was free throw shooting. Nevada went to the line 29 times, making 19 (65.5 percent). Fresno State got to the line only 14 times, making eight (57.1 percent).

“ The best way for us to get to the free-throw line is on the intertior,” Lopes said. “If we’re going to get to the free-throw line, it’s a matter of feeding the ball inside.”

And the Bulldogs just didn’t do that well enough.

Less than half of Fresno State’s field goal attempts came from the frontcourt players.