Box Score

Fresno Pacific stayed within striking distance for most of the game, but a late second half run by Fresno State allowed the Bulldogs to pull away with a 71-50 victory.

Jerante Morgan led the Sunbirds with 13 points and Matt Christman added 10 for FPU. Jordan Wild led all players with nine rebounds.

The Sunbirds trailed by as low as four points well into the second half, cutting the lead to 38-34 after some outstanding defensive play led to a breakaway layup by Christman.

From that point though, the Bulldogs would go on a 17-5 run fueld by turnovers and second-chance points. Turnovers hurt the Sunbirds all night, as they totaled 27, but they caused nearly as many with some tenacious defense, as Fresno State turned the ball over 20 times.

"I was very pleased with how we defended for about the first 28 minutes," said FPU head coach Chris Wright. "Our guys showed a huge improvement from our season opener. If we defend like that for 40 minutes we've got a chance to be really good."

The Sunbirds did a great job defending Fresno State center Greg Smith, a player who many have tabbed as having NBA potential. FPU made Smith work for his buckets and even blocked the 6'8" sophomore on multiple occasions.

Smith still led the Bulldogs with 16 points, but for as many times as he was given the ball the damage could have been much worse. Garrett Johnson chipped in with 12 points for the Bulldogs and Kevin Olekaibe added 10.

The Sunbirds never looked completely overmatched, but turnovers hindered the teams ability to score. FPU made just seven field goals in the first half, but got some timely three-pointers from Christman, along with solid defensive play, to keep them in it

The early part of the second half included some exciting moments for the Sunbirds, a three-point play by Morgan and a fastbreak pull-up three-pointer by Adam Kado, but each time the Bulldogs were there to answer with a putback or a foul drawn on the other end.

FPU was out-rebounded by just one, 41-40, against the much taller Bulldogs. The Sunbirds left room for improvement at the free-throw line, making 14-of-23 (61%), but the Bulldogs shot even lower than that, making 13-of-27 (48%).

The Bulldogs did hold advantages in points in the paint (36-22), field goal percentage (46% to 31%) and second chance points (18-6).

Coach Wright was happy to have the opportunity to play his young team against an NCAA opponent this early in the season.

"We're very appreciative to Coach Cleveland and his staff for playing this game," said Wright. "This type of game will prepare us for our home opener and for games against some very good teams in Las Vegas next weekend."

The Sunbirds' home opener is this Wednesday at 7 pm against Northwest Christian.