'Dogs win old-fashioned throw down
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By Jeff Christian
The Collegian
Sing it Quinton, “Stella got her groove back.”
There’s an old axiom at The Collegian that says if Fresno State’s Quinton Hosley is singing during the post game conference, then the Bulldogs are probably in good shape.
Hosley’s 22 points and 10 rebounds helped lead a balanced offensive attack that opened up a 22-point Fresno State lead in the second half.
Unfortunately for New Mexico State head coach Reggie Theus, the Save Mart Center court wasn’t the 20-foot Deering High court on the set of “Hangtime” and there wasn’t a made-for television late game comeback in the script as the Bulldogs defeated the Aggies 75-69.
Fresno State struggled to find a rhythm on offense early on, committing turnovers on three of its first four possessions and failing to score until nearly five minutes into the game.
During a media timeout with 11:55 left in the first half, Fresno State had more turnovers than field goals made (five to four) and trailed New Mexico State 15 to nine.
Everything changed after the media timeout. The Bulldogs went on a scoring blitzkrieg and were unstoppable on both ends of the floor, using a 31-11 scoring run to build a 14-point first half lead.
One difference during the Bulldogs dominant stretch was the surprise play of forward Alex Blair. Blair came off the bench and immediately energized the arena.
In nine minutes of play in the first half, Blair scored six points, was perfect on all three of his field goal attempts and was a defensive force in the low-post.
“Alex came off and gave us a huge lift defensively,” head coach Steve Cleveland said. “They just weren’t able to pound it inside.”
The performance was a storybook ending for Blair, who had recently returned from Florida after the death of his grandfather.
“I’m glad to have everyone happy for me and to have their support,” Blair said.
Blair’s performance could create a shift in the starting rotation for the team’s bracket buster game against Sam Houston State on Saturday.
“This has to be performance based. I don’t know what we’ll do this next week but the next three practices, why wouldn’t I take a strong look at him [Blair],” Cleveland said. “He actually guarded the post and we haven’t had anybody do that for 25 games.”
Fresno State was able to get its transition game in full gear as it turned 21 New Mexico State turnovers into easy baskets and 30 points.
Cleveland said he was proud of the team's defensive effort.
“The attitude’s been good, the work ethic’s been good in practice, we just haven’t been able to finish,” Cleveland said. “Tonight for 38 minutes we did just that. We finished defensively and we finished offensively.”
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