Despite win, exhibition exposes flaws in Bulldogs' game

Team tries to master press defense against Master’s College

By Maggie Thach

The Collegian

Forget that Master’s College is an NAIA program. The Mustangs gave the Bulldogs, a Division I program predicted to finish fifth in the WAC, a scare on Wednesday night in Fresno State’s first exhibition game of the season.

The Mustangs led at one point in the second half by four but in the end, the Bulldogs pulled away with a 77-66 victory.

Despite forcing 25 turnovers, the Bulldogs let Master’s College stay in the game with poor free-throw shooting and giving open looks to sharp-shooters Ryan Read and Ryan Zamroz. Both combined for 9-of-17 from beyond the arc. The open looks can be attributed to the press defense implemented two days ago.

“We had 13 steals but they probably had 16 or 17 points off of open looks,” said first-year head coach Steve Cleveland. “We didn’t rotate it. I’m gonna coach to win the game but we have to use these exhibitions to use those things [press].”

The most glaring problem in the first half was inability to convert free throws as the Bulldogs were 4 of 12. The press did create some problems for the Mustangs. Quinton Hosley had six steals, two blocks and 15 points. Ja’vance Coleman chipped in three steals and led all scorers with 27. But with only seven scholarship players, fatigue set in.

“I was really pleased with the effort of Quinton, Kevin and Ja’Vance, but yeah fatigue is a factor. It would be nice to have 15 guys on the bench,” Cleveland said. “We had a 13-point lead. You need to close it out.”

The Bulldogs went on a 17-5 run to get to 32-19 but the Mustangs went on a 14-5 run of its own to cut the lead to four going into halftime.

In the second half, the Mustangs’ Zamroz made a 3 to take the lead 42-40. But a balanced effort from the Bulldogs took back the lead for good.

Penetration into the lane was a key factor for the Bulldogs as it left an open shooter in the left corner, a favorite spot as Coleman, Bell and Hosley all scored from that position.

Although Fresno State came away with the win, point guard Bell knows there are improvements to be made.

“They came out to play hard. They made their open shots. We needed to make those adjustments. We weren’t communicating as good but we’ll make those adjustments tomorrow.”

Even though the team has been banned from post-season play, Bell said the morale isn’t low and the team is still striving for a goal.

“We want the WAC championship,” Bell said. “We’re still gonna play hard for the fans because they’re still coming out to see us. It came out of nowhere but that was days ago. We still have a season ahead of us.”

And Cleveland knows as the season progresses, there are going to be more challenges.

“I understand the level of competition is going to be significantly different down the road,” Cleveland said.

“But we have to start somewhere.”

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