Bulldogs blowout Vandals
The Fresno State starting five puts away the Vandals early, allowing the five Bulldogs subs to log a combined 88 minutes
By Maggie Thach
The Collegian
Freshman walk-on Jeff Jackson could finally breath a sigh of relief.
All that pressure from teammates to make his first basket of the season finally dissipated when he pulled the trigger behind the arc right in front of the Fresno State bench. With the shot, Jackson helped Fresno State (11–8, 4–4) match a record team-high 14 made three-pointers and chipped into the Bulldogs’ 89-54 blowout over the Idaho Vandals (3–15, 0–7), who remain winless in league play. But more importantly, Jackson, and the rest of the reserves who ended the game gave the starting five and head coach Steve Cleveland something to smile about in the lopsided win.
“Oh, yeah, I was having a blast [on the bench],” said Ja’Vance Coleman, who had 22 points, 18 of them from 3-pointers. “It’s great to see Jeff, Ajay and James get a lot of time.”
A lot of playing time is not what the reserves are used to but that’s what happens when a team builds a 40-plus point lead. Three-point shooting and a defense that collected nine steals and forced 13 turnovers can be credited for the blowout.
Coleman set the tone for the game when he hit his first shot of the game, a three-point attempt from the right corner. The confidence to spot up from the three-point range was contagious as his teammates followed suit. Donovan Morris and Quinton Hosley hit threes in the first four minutes of the game.
“Confidence is such a big factor in shooting,” Cleveland said. “It makes a difference.”
Fresno State shot an astounding 53.4 percent, including an impressive 14 of 28 from three-point territory.
The Bulldogs took a 45-23 lead over the Vandals at the half and the most important thing to Kevin Bell was to keep the lead.
“We had to work hard on keeping our focus when we have big leads,” said Bell, who had seven rebounds, nine assists and no turnovers. “To take a big lead and expand on it in the second half is key.”
The Bulldogs’ lead ballooned to 44 points in the second half as they held Idaho to just 14 points in the first 14 minutes. They cleaned up on the boards and outrebounded the Vandals 41-26 while other players besides Coleman and Hosley had solid performances.
“The transition game, everyone was unselfish, guys hit shots. You have nights like this,” Cleveland said. “It was a total team contribution.”
And that’s what Cleveland hopes to bring into the next game against Boise State, a team very similar to the Bulldogs’ playing style.
“Other than that you hope you can take that confidence,” Cleveland said. “But it’s been a real grind the past five days. We can just inhale. It’s a big sigh of relief.”
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