Fresno State Not About to Let Up, 82-57

Fresno State made sure it didn’t look past San Jose State on Thursday night.

Still smarting from last Thursday’s lopsided loss at Hawaii that ended a win streak at 13,the No. 23-ranked Bulldogs took control early en route to an 82-57 victory at Fresno.

“We came out and were really ready to play,” said Coach Jerry Tarkanian, whose team won, 86-75, at San Jose State after the loss at Hawaii.

“I was concerned about San Jose State because I thought our win was a little misleading, But our defense was awesome for the first 35 minutes.”

Fresno State, 19-3 overall and 8-1 in the Western Athletic Conference, forced 21 turnovers--15 on steals--in leading by as many as 29 points before Tarkanian pulled the starters.

“We set the tone by denying passes with our defense,” said center Melvin Ely said. “The coach wanted us to take away certain passes. We did that and the game was a walk in the park.”

Ely led the Bulldogs with 14 points. Tito Maddox had 11 points and eight assists, Chris Jefferies 11 points, and Shannon Swillis and Dennis Nathan 10 points each.

“We have got to win games on the defensive end,” Nathan said. “That translates into offense for us. We are doing the things we need to do to win right now.”

Corey Powell scored 11 points, and Darnell Williams and Marion Thurmond each had 10 for San Jose State (10-11, 2-8).

“This Fresno team is just incredibly good, and getting better,” San Jose State Coach Steve Barnes said.

“Last year I remember thinking how incredible [the WAC’s] Tulsa was [in reaching the NCAA’s round of eight], but this team has just better talent. We had to perform at a level with no margin for error, and we just couldn’t do that.”

Fresno State, which extended its home win streak to 12, took a 20-9 lead and was ahead, 38-19, by halftime.

OTHER GAMES

Louisville (9-14, 5-5 in Conference USA) held Marquette (11-9, 6-3) to one field goal in the final 7:42 of a 75-65 victory at Louisville, Ky. Freshman center Muhammed Lasege, who received a favorable court decision Tuesday in his eligibility battle with the NCAA, had a season-high 12 points. . . . Tim Lyles scored 17 points, including a driving layup with 18 seconds left to lift West Virginia (13-7, 4-5 in the Big East) to a 69-68 victory over Pittsburgh (12-10, 4-7) at Morgantown, W.Va. West Virginia lost by 17 points at Pittsburgh last week.

Temple (14-10, 8-2 in the Atlantic 10) posted its highest point total of the season in a 91-58 victory over George Washington (9-13, 3-6) at Philadelphia. George Washington’s second-leading scorer, SirValiant Brown, was sidelined because of a foot injury.

Cleveland State (17-9, 8-2 in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference) increased its win streak to seven--its longest in five seasons under Coach Rollie Massimino--with a 77-60 home victory over Wright State (14-9, 5-5). . . . Detroit (16-8, 6-3 in the Midwestern Collegiate) extended its home win streak to 28 with a 68-63 victory over Butler (15-7, 6-3). Detroit’s streak is the third-longest in the nation behind Michigan State and Iowa State.

Valparaiso (18-6, 9-2) moved into first place in the Mid-Continent Conference with a 61-58 victory over Southern Utah (18-5, 9-3) at Valparaiso, Ind.

Henry Domercant and Kyle Hill, who average a combined 46.3 points a game as the nation’s second- and 10th-leading scorers, were held to a combined 33 as Eastern Illinois (15-7, 8-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference) was an 85-71 loser at Tennessee Martin (10-12, 5-6). . . . Jeryl Sasser had 16 points, 13 rebounds and six assists for Southern Methodist (18-6, 8-3 in the WAC) in a 72-69 victory over Texas El Paso (17-5, 6-4) at Dallas. UTEP’s Brandon Wolfram, who entered as the nation’s seventh-leading scorer at 22.3 points a game, had 24. . . . Eastern Washington (13-8, 8-3) moved into a tie for first place in the Big Sky Conference with Cal State Northridge with an 81-70 victory over Weber State (11-10, 6-5) at Ogden, Utah.