Another gritty game to cap off this rivalry as regular-season conference foes.
Fresno State has always been known as one of those gritty conference opponents, regardless of if the Bulldogs are atop the standings or not. After a one-point win over Fresno State a month ago, it was yet another close battle but yet another win, this time a 69-59 final.
It wasn’t a beautiful shooting night for either side, and it’s not crazy to say the referees stuck their nose in this one. There were 36 total fouls and some pretty harsh ones against Nevada, but Steve Alford & Co. found a way to battle out.
Scoring Summary
1st Half
Fresno State 28 – Nevada 28
2nd Half
Fresno State 31 – Nevada 41
Final: Fresno State 59, Nevada 69
First Half
Fresno State opened up the game with two free throws for an early lead, but a quick layup by Vaughn Weems tied it up for Nevada. The first three of the game was made by Jake Heidbreder, who scored 25 points against Nevada in the first matchup back in January.
The Bulldogs made two threes to start off and gave themselves a 10-4 lead within four minutes. It put Nevada into a scoring drought of over two minutes until former Bulldog Elijah Price went 2-2 from the free throw line to cut it to four.
Despite the free throws, Nevada didn’t make a shot from the field for over three minutes until Weems made his second shot of the night, this time from beyond the arc. The Wolf Pack went into the first media timeout down 15-9.
Nevada’s offense was stagnant, shooting just 3-12 and going cold for over three minutes until a Jeriah Coleman dunk to cut the Pack’s deficit to six points. Despite the cold shooting, Nevada shared some of it and kept Fresno State scoreless from the field for over five minutes. Guard David Douglas Jr. snapped the Bulldogs out of it with his second three on the night.
Weems closed the gap with a layup and a foul, cutting it down to a 23-19 Fresno State lead with 7:30 left in the half. Shortly after, a huge addition to Nevada’s play came in as Joel Armotrading made his return after being sidelined with a fractured sternum since November.
“It was great having him back, I’m happy for him,” Alford said about his return. “Great credit to his teammates, we lost him for 16 times, and we were 12-4, not a lot of people are talking about that. But when you lose your starting center at Thanksgiving and don’t get him back until Valentine’s and you go 12-4, that’s a lot of great work.”
Armotrading scored the first points of his return off of free throws, making them both and keeping the deficit under double digits. Nevada’s offense remained flat, but some small momentum was gained after the first three-pointer for Corey Camper Jr. cut it to a four-point deficit. Two more free throws for Weems and Nevada had made it a two-point game.
Nevada turned in a 7-0 run and used that to tie the game at 28 with 1:25 left of the half. Despite the late momentum, Nevada got lucky that Fresno State’s offense was just as quiet. The Bulldogs hit another scoring drought during Nevada’s run, ending the final six minutes of the half without a point.
The first half ended pretty ugly for both teams’ offense. Nevada shot 33 percent from the field and 14 percent from three, as Fresno State shot 32 percent from the field and 26 percent from three. Weems led the first 20 minutes with eight points. Both sides collected two offensive rebounds each as well.
“One of those offensive boards was from Myles [Walker], and that’s not really his role, so that was an emphasis, and we ended up with 13, so this team listens and responds.”
Second Half
Fresno State hit two quick jumpers to open up the second half and take a 32-28 lead. Price forced another trip to the free-throw line shortly after, banking in both to cut it to 32-30.
It was another slow start to Nevada’s offense after that, although the whistles (or lack thereof) kept the Pack down but not out. Tayshawn Comer scored his first points of the game with Nevada’s first three of the second half to cut it down to three, then a steal and a foul allowed Nevada to cut it down to another two-point game.
Fresno State followed up with some deep shots by Heidbreder and DeShawn Gory. Price continued to drive through the paint for a few layups and kept Nevada within three. Insert your daily Camper three-pointer, and Nevada tied the game at 45 with just over 10 minutes left.
Thanks to some free throws by Tyler Rolison, Nevada took its first lead of the game with a 47-45 score. A few Fresno State turnovers followed by a jumper by Kaleb Lowery gave Nevada a 9-0 run, forcing Fresno State to take a timeout just under nine minutes.
Nevada turned that into a 15-2 run and held Fresno State scoreless through five minutes until Heidbreder made two free throws to cut it to a 53-47 Nevada lead around the six and a half minute mark. The Fresno State guard finished the night with 13 points on 3-11 shooting.
Fresno State turned in a 7-0 run of its own, cutting it down to a 53-52 Nevada lead with 4:53 to go. To keep it real, the officiating through the second half became extremely atrocious. I don’t think I’ve seen a travel called on a player who was falling to the ground and caught the ball (that’s exactly what happened and was called on Weems), but any coach will tell you that you can’t let the officials control your game.
“It’s part of the game, so just keep hooping and don’t let any of that affect you of what you got going on, just stay together and connected with each other,” Rolison said,
Rolison hit his first three of the night to give Nevada a six-point lead, then after a missed shot by Fresno State, Camper took the ball and did the same thing, turning it into a 64-55 Wolf Pack lead with under two minutes.
Nevada held a big enough lead in the final minute to just pass the ball around, giving the Pack another gritty win over Fresno State. Weems and Camper led the team with 15 points each, followed by Rolison with 11 and Price with 10. As a team, Nevada shot 22-57 from the field and 6-24 from three. Fresno State went 19-53 from the field and 9-23 from deep.
What’s Next
Nevada will head out for a two-game road trip, starting in SoCal to face San Diego State on Valentine’s Day. The Aztecs won the first matchup in Reno at the beginning of January 73-68.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST on Saturday, Feb. 14.
Category: General Sports
