Bulldogs try to get back on track
After losing two straight road games at Texas-El Paso and Boise State,
the Bulldogs have four straight home games, starting with tonight's matchup
against Tulsa
By EDDIE HUGHES
For the second straight game, Fresno State is facing the last-place team
in the Western Athletic Conference.
Freshman Chris Berry has scored in double figures in four straight
games for the Bulldogs. Photo by Joseph Hollak |
A good time to beef up that conference record heading toward the WAC
tournament, right? Well, not necessarily.
The Bulldogs fell to 13-9, 7-6 in the WAC, with their second straight
loss on Saturday to a Boise State team that was in last place and on a
five-game losing streak before the game.
On Jan. 22, in Fresno State’s first meeting with Tulsa, the Bulldogs
lost to a Golden Hurricane team that was in last place at the time.
Four Tulsa players scored in double figures in that game, led by Jarius
Glenn’s 18 points. Freshman Brett McDade added 15 for the Hurricane.
Glenn leads the team with 17 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.
And now, Tulsa (6-15, 3-9) is tied for last place again and visiting the
Save Mart Center for a rematch with the Bulldogs tonight at 7.
Fresno State is led by Ja’Vance Coleman’s 17.7 points per
game and Mustafa Al-Sayyad’s 7.7 rebounds.
In the teams’ first meeting, Fresno State led by eight points with
five minutes to go before losing 68-65 in Tulsa. Coleman scored 25 points
for the Bulldogs.
It was the Golden Hurricane’s first WAC victory of the season.
And go figure — during the same time span as the losses to the WAC’s
bottom teams — the Bulldogs were beating the WAC’s top teams.
Fresno State beat second-place Texas-El Paso 66-63 on a last-second 30-foot
shot. And the Bulldogs beat first-place Nevada —on the road —
by the same 66-63 score.
Since last playing the Bulldogs, Tulsa has beaten Boise State and UTEP
to win two of its last three games.
But Fresno State has lost just one conference home game this season, to
Louisiana Tech.
That’s a good sign for a team that plays its next four games at
home before finishing the regular season with a two-game road trip.
The Bulldogs, currently in fifth place, have a chance to make up some
ground in the WAC with three conference home games in the next 11 days.
The Bulldogs also host Buffalo in Saturday’s Bracket Buster game
during that span.
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