FRESNO, Calif. – Struggling to find its shooting for the second time in the last week, Fresno State was dealt a six-point defeat by San Diego State at the Save Mart Center on Wednesday night. In a battle of the conference's top two defenses, neither crossed the 50-point barrier with the game ending 49-43.
The Bulldogs shot just 31.8 percent from the field but it teetered just below the 30 for the first half hour while the Aztecs percentage hovered near 40 percent until the 'Dogs put the clamps on them in the fourth quarter (16.7%).
Amaya West scored 18 of the Bulldogs' points while SDSU got a combined 27 from Yummy Morris (14) and Sophia Ramos (13).
How It Happened
Following a 3-pointer from the wing by Amiee Book in the opening minute that gave the Bulldogs their only lead of the game (3-2), San Diego State went on a 10-0 run, prompting a timeout from Fresno State with 3:28 on the clock. The Aztecs' scored 12 points off Bulldog miscues, seven off offensive rebounds and another five off turnovers. Leading 16-8 after 10 minutes, the visitors grabbed an 11-point advantage late in the second quarter. SDSU held a double-digit advantage through the third and grabbed its largest lead of the night at 16 with 3:43 remaining in the period.
With just 28 points through three quarters and trailing by 16 with just over eight minutes remaining in the game, the Bulldogs held the Aztecs without a field goal the remainder of the night. It took the Bulldogs more than seven minutes but they cut the deficit to single digits on Amaya West's second and-1 in the period with 47 seconds to play. The 'Dogs closed to within five with 22 seconds on the clock on a layup from Book but that was as close as they would get. Five turnovers out of Fresno State's 18 fourth-quarter possessions limited its opportunities to overcome the double-digit deficit as they could only outscored SDSU 15-7 in the period.
Notes
Fresno State scored its least amount of points since scoring 41 against Nevada on Feb. 23, 2019.
The Bulldogs held San Diego State to 49 points. It was their eighth opponent to be held below 50 points this season which matches the total from Jaime White's first season in Fresno (2014-15), and is tied for the fourth-most such games in program history, and the most since the 1970's.
Fresno State shot its third-lowest percentage from the field this season at 31.8 percent (14-of-44).
The 'Dogs shot their highest single-game free throw percentage of the year at 92.9 percent (13-of-14).
Coming off 11 turnovers in the last two games, Fresno State committed 18 on Wednesday night, its fifth-most in a game this season. The turnovers resulted in 16 Aztec points.
Amaya West scored a game-high 18 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field and 8-of-8 from the free throw line. It was West's 11th double-figure scoring game.
Next Up
Fresno State returns to the road, heading to Colorado Springs, Colorado on Saturday. The Bulldogs face Air Force at 12 p.m. PT at Clune Arena.
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