Fresno State trailed by 19 at one point and never got closer than 8 in the second half. The Bulldogs struggled from the field, especially from three-point range, hitting only 3 of 15 attempts.
“I liked the energy we showed in the second half,” Head Coach Steve Cleveland said. “We were down and in that environment we could have really been in trouble but we battled back and cut the lead to eight.”
Fresno State is now 10-12 on the year and 3-5 in conference play, dropping to sixth place in the WAC.
“I'm not happy with losing. No one in that locker room is happy with losing but we will keep battling. That's all we can do,” Cleveland said.
The Wolfpack was led their senior guard Marcelus Kemp’s 28 points on 10 for 17 shooting. Sophomore guard Brandon Fields added 17 points.
Fresno State was led by senior point guard Kevin Bell’s 22 points as well as senior guard Eddie Miller’s 17 points. The guard tandem has been a highlight for the ‘Dogs in the last three games, combining for an average of 45 points per game.
The Bulldogs are also starting to see significant improvement and production from their freshman forward Brandon Webster. Webster (6’10”, 225) was the Bulldogs’ star recruit coming into the 2007-2008 season.
Thursday night at the Lawlor Events Center, Webster posted his best career performance to date with 11 points and 10 rebounds in 19 minutes of play. This game marked his first career double-double as a Bulldog.
“Brandon Webster continues to get better,” Cleveland Said. “We need him to get himself in better shape to be able to be on the floor for longer periods.”
The Bulldogs are still short handed and playing with a 7-man rotation after losing multiple players this season. Forwards Bryan Harvey and Rekalin Sims were both suspended for the remainder of the season for academic violations and guard Dwight O’Neil was been missing since injuring his shooting-hand wrist November 17 in a loss at CSU Bakersfield.
The team is hoping it can get O’Neil back for the next game on the schedule, a Monday night match-up against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. The addition of O’Neil will help to take some pressure off guards Miller and Bell. The two have been playing extended minutes since losing O’Neil and Harvey, including all 45 minutes of Monday’s overtime loss to Boise State.
Before his injury, O’Neil was averaging 13.5 points per game and was a key contributed to the Bulldogs’ offense. O’Neil is also thought to be the team’s strongest on-ball defender.
Monday’s game will be played at 7 p.m. at the Save Mart Center.
©Copyright 2008, BarkBoard.com and Scout.com. All rights reserved.
Image from GoBulldogs