Bulldogs can't pull off sweep of No. 25 Nevada

The men's basketball team was within one point at halftime before losing 76-63 to Nevada and dropping into sixth place in the Western Athletic Conference

By MAGGIE THACH

For the first 26-plus minutes of Saturday’s game, the Fresno State men's basketball team hung with a Nevada team that is on top of the Western Athletic Conference and ranked No. 25 in the country.

Until the 13:53 mark of the second half, Fresno State nearly matched Nevada rebound for rebound (22-24), had only seven turnovers after averaging at least 18 in the past five games and was only down by one point, 48-47.

Fresno State had the 13,250 fans — the largest crowd at the Save Mart Center this year — believing the Bulldogs could pull out another upset. The Bulldogs beat Nevada 66-63 in the teams’ first meeting this season in Reno.

The Nevada team, on a seven-game winning steak and undefeated since the Jan. 29 meeting with Fresno State, had just the opposite in mind. The Wolf Pack earned the split, winning 76-63 on Saturday night.

“I'm extremely proud of our kids to be able to get another win on the road and secure the No. 1 seed [in the WAC tournament],” Nevada coach Mark Fox said. “We're going to be the No. 1 seed. There’s no way we can't be.”

Nevada's Nick Fazekas, a frontrunner for WAC player of the year, led the way with 28 points and 11 rebounds, his 14th double-double of the season.

“They've got a great player in Nick Fazekas and they know that,” Fresno State coach Ray Lopes said.

But Lopes didn't anticipate the same type of game from Mo Charlo. Charlo finished with 17 points, including back-to-back dunks in the second half, and four rebounds.

“I didn't expect it from Charlo,” Lopes said. “He didn't play as well [in Reno]. We didn't let that happen the first time around. They did a good job of driving on us. They did a good job of finishing.”

Finishing was something Fresno State couldn't do in the second half. The Bulldogs shot 23.8 percent from the field in the second half, making just five field goals. Most of their points came from the free-throw line but they even had some trouble finishing there.

After going 8 for 8 in the first half, the Bulldogs missed five of their 21 attempts in the second.

“Our shot selection wasn't bad,” said Ja'Vance Coleman, who led the Bulldogs with 18 points and had three rebounds. “We're taking good shots. We just didn't make them.”

While Fresno State had trouble finding the bottom of the net, Nevada went on a 20-4 run in the second half that the Bulldogs never recovered from. Nevada shot 55.6 percent from the field and was 9 for 12 from the free-throw line.

“In a timeout, I said, ‘Hey, we need to start playing. Our defense needs to get to the level it's been at,’” Fox said. “The look in their eyes — they were ready to start taking care of business.”

Saturday's game marked the last home game for the team's three seniors. Jack Marlow was sidelined for an unspecified eligibility issue. Mustafa Al-Sayyad, who was pivotal in the last meeting with Nevada with 20 points and seven rebounds, finished with eight points and seven rebounds. Drieke Bouldin had 10 points and three rebounds.

The defeat knocks Fresno State into sixth place in the WAC at 8-8. The Bulldogs have two games left, at San Jose State and at Hawaii before heading to the WAC tournament.

The Bulldogs need one of the top six seeds in the conference tournament to avoid a play-in game in the first round of the WAC tournament.

“We’ve got to find a way to win some road games. We’ve got to get ourselves into the top six,” Lopes said.

“There's something that we're playing for.”