Fresno State makes a run at an upset at Nevada. An unexpected culprit trips Bulldogs

Fresno State at the start was launching threes, which is not the best recipe for success for this team, not on the road, at Nevada and in a building where the Wolf Pack have yet to lose this season. The Bulldogs are the worst 3-point shooting team in the Mountain West, yet they fired away, more good looks than bad. Of their first 10 shots, seven were from three. Of their first 29, 18 were from three, a chilling clip for a team that struggles to shoot the basketball.

But that is not what got the Bulldogs in a 77-66 loss on Friday at the Lawlor Events Center, which snapped their modest two-game winning streak. It was a mind-boggling run of fouls in the second half.

Fresno State (9-15, 5-8 in the MW) was called for 17 fouls in the second half, and the Wolf Pack went 18 of 21 at the free throw line over the final 20 minutes and 23 of 26 in the game. They outscored the Bulldogs at the line by 15 points in the second half, and in the game.

“Some of those ticky-tacky ones early put us in the bonus when we really did foul,” coach Justin Hutson said. “It got us in the bonus really quick.”

The Bulldogs had been called for 17 or fewer fouls in 17 of their first 23 games, but in the second half Nevada took advantage of a lack of depth with forward Isaih Moore not on the trip due to a personal issue and more aggressively attacked the basket. Eduardo Andre ended up playing 32 minutes (he was averaging 17.9) with 10 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two steals and one blocked shot, but they had difficulty matching up against Nevada center Will Baker when Andre was down and a small lineup was on the floor.

Baker, a 7-foot redshirt junior, hit 5 of 7 shots and was 8 of 9 at the foul line in scoring 19 points. That is not a season-high point total, but he had averaged just 3.1 free throws in conference play with a high of seven against San Diego State. He was at the line 11 times over his past four games and 109 minutes played.

Fresno State, a jump shooting team that isn’t adept at drawing or scoring through contact at the rim, wasn’t going to match that. The Bulldogs went in attempting only 14.4 free throws a game, ranking last in the Mountain West and 333rd of 352 in the nation.

But they continued to play well in the second half of the conference season, had a lead with 9:16 to go when Jemarl Baker hit a three and had the score tied with just 6:25 to go when Baker hit another three.

“I was very proud of what Eduardo did, and the whole team,” Hutson said. “I thought our fight was there. I thought our pride was there. I thought we were aggressive. I thought we came to win. You just have to give credit to Nevada. They hit some big shots at the end of the game and ours didn’t quite go in.”

BULLDOGS NOTES

Fresno State got another big game from its guards with Isaiah Hill scoring 20 points with three assists, Baker scoring 17 with one assist and Donavan Yap scoring 11 with five assists.

The Bulldogs held Nevada guard Jarod Lucas, the Wolf Pack’s leading scorer at 17.8 points per game, to 13 points. Lucas hit only 3 of 10 shots, but was 6 of 6 from the foul line. Lucas had hit 58.1% of his shots over the past three games in averaging 243 points in wins over San Diego State and Air Force and at New Mexico.

Fresno State hit 41.4% of its shots (24 of 58), but scoring at the rim again was an issue. The Bulldogs attempted 15 layups, but made only seven. Nevada was 8 of 11 on layups and had a 34-24 advantage scoring in the paint.

NEXT FOR FRESNO STATE

Wednesday vs. San Diego State, 8 p..m. at Save Mart Center (CBS Sports Network)