SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Fresno State dropped its fourth straight game, and third away from home, on Saturday afternoon in an 81-66 defeat to Santa Clara at the Leavey Center.
Zaon Collins scored a team-high 17 points to go with six assists and four steals. Mykell Robinson added 15 points and seven rebounds.
How It Happened
A slow start with a combined seven straight shots missed, Alex Crawford got the Bulldogs on the board first. Santa Clara built up a three-point advantage just over six minutes in before Brian Amuneke knocked down a triple from the left corner to knot the game up at 10-10.
Trailing by six with just under 10 minutes left in the half, Zaon Collins got the 'Dogs going at both ends scoring five points, grabbing two rebounds a steal in a 7-0 run that put Fresno State up 18-17. Tyeree Bryan quickly countered at the other end for the Broncos with a corner 3. Just over a minute later, Bryan's third triple of the half prompted a timeout from the Bulldog bench with SCU pushing its lead to 25-18.
Out of the stoppage, Fresno State went inside to Elijah Price to end the run. Bryan's 3-point shooting though got the Broncos going from deep. Starting 2-of-10, SCU finished the opening 20 minutes 5-of-8, closing the half 19-7 in the final 7:03 to take a 36-25 lead into the locker room.
Despite a couple early buckets from Crawford, Carlos Stewart dropped in a 3 to put the home side up 15 two minutes into the half. The Bulldogs scored the next six to pull their deficit back to single digits but Stewart answered with another from outside.
Trailing by 11 at the under-12 timeout, the Broncos struck with seven unanswered. Three-and-a-half minutes later, SCU stretched the Bulldogs' deficit to 24 at 70-46 through a 10-0 run.
The Bulldogs answered back with an 18-4 run during the next five minutes with 11 of those points coming from Collins. With momentum on Fresno State's side, a 3-pointer by Bryan with 66 seconds remaining put the game out of reach for the 'Dogs.
Notes
Fresno State dropped its fourth straight game.
Fresno State moved to 1-5 away from home.
Fresno State trailed at the half for the eighth time this season (2-6).
Fresno State shot a season-high 40% from 3 (6-of-15).
Zaon Collins scored a team-high 17 points. The sophomore has scored double digits in all seven games he has appeared in.
Collins also dished out a season-high six assists.
Mykell Robinson finished with 15 points, his sixth straight game in double figures.
Alex Crawford was back in double figures, his third time on the year, scoring 13 points.
Elijah Price reached double figures for the fourth time with 12 points.
Up Next
Fresno State remains on the road traveling to BYU on Wednesday. Tipoff at the Marriott Center is set for 6 p.m. PT and will stream on ESPN+.