Spartans fall 75-62

It was yet another grinder as both teams tossed jab after jab but with neither squad able to sustain a pullaway lead until late and that turned out to be Fresno State. The host Bulldogs topped SJSU 75-62.

With the score 61-56, freshman Kevin Olekaibe hit a floater to make it 63-56 in favor of the Dogs.

Then came a Tim Steed dunk.

Keith Shamburger and Jonathan Wills traded nailing one of two free throws and Steed then flushed his second one.

Subsequently a march to the foul line ensued until the buzzer.

Fresno State's Mr. (Greg) Smith didn't go to Washington but rather to the basket for16 points. But it was his late second half steal and later a block with resulting passes to Tim Steed for the aforementioned dunks.

The Spartans couldn't get the needed stops in the last five minutes.

For SJSU, Adrian Oliver led with 15 points (6-19 shooting) as the Bulldogs defended he and Justin Graham extremely well. Shamburger totaled 13 points, Wil Carter 11 and Calvin Douglas 10.

Two important figures: the Bulldogs went 14-29 from the foul line and still won by 13, plus Steve Cleveland's squad won the battle of the boards 52-41.

Noteworthy was the effort of Chris Jones. Players want touches which usually means passes to them. In Jones' case, he gets his hand on more basketballs than Mr. Spalding.

At the half, it was Fresno State ahead 33-29.

At that point, the Bulldogs out-boarded San Jose State 26-18 and the Fresno State color announcer (we couldn't pick up the KSJS broadcast) labeled it the hardest working first half for the Bulldogs this season. Oliver totaled 11 points on 13 shot attempts and generated five assists in the initial 20 minutes with Carter scoring 10 points and grabbing nine boards.

Neither team shot well in the first half -- San Jose State at 36% but with 10 turnovers to 35% for the Bulldogs.