Dogs Roll Past the Miners

Fresno State defeats a struggling UTEP Miner squad 76-63 in their last WAC regular season meeting of the year. The Bulldogs improved to 16-4(9-2) and remain in first place in the conference while the Miners (4-16, 2-8) rest at the bottom as they drop their 8th conference game.

The Fresno State Bulldogs men’s basketball team arrived in El Paso badly needing a road win. They came away with just that, along with a solid performance from the starting five, and some help off the bench.

This was a young UTEP team, and the Dogs were able to dominate in nearly all facets of the game. They out rebounded the Miners, controlled the tempo of the game, showed good hustle, survived a late UTEP push, and got the victory they needed. This win keeps them a game and a half in front of Nevada, going into the showdown on Saturday with Boise State.

Coach Ray Lopes did a good job in keeping the dog’s heads on straight and not allowing them to fall apart after a tough loss last week to Nevada.

In the first half, the Dogs used good ball movement and inside size to build an early lead. The Dogs focused on getting points in the paint, and controlled the boards, giving them a 37-28 first half lead. The Bulldogs bench produced 13 first half points.

The Miners were basically one-dimensional with guard Omar Duran keeping the Miners in contention during the first half. Duran lead all scorers and finished with 26 points. Forward Noel Felix again got into early foul trouble by committing three early fouls and had to sit with nearly seven minutes left in the first half.

Terry Pettis played a nice first half and did not commit any turnovers. He led a balanced Fresno State attack and was the top dog tonight with 19 points. The Dogs still look a little out of synch at times, but they did a good job of locating the open man and hitting their shots.

The Dogs came out with intensity to start the second half and built a 19 point lead, but had to withstand a late surge by the Miners who the cut the lead to 9 with about a minute left.

“I’m happy about getting a road win. That’s very important for us,” coach Lopes said. “I just wish we could have played a little harder in the last 10 minutes of the game. We played very well for 30 minutes but had a letdown at the end.”

Hopefully, the dogs worked the bugs out and can finish this road trip with two wins after Saturday in Boise. Go Dogs!!!