FRESNO, Calif. – On the night they debuted beautiful orange uniforms, the Fresno Pacific University men's basketball team was forced to win ugly against Stanislaus State. The Sunbirds held the Warriors to 33.3 percent field goal percentage and beat the Warriors 66-50, leaving opening weekend without a blemish on their record. 
 
QUOTABLE 
"Really gritty performance from our guy. Stanislaus did a really good job of throwing us off balance offensively. We kind of had to find our feet defensively and had to grind it out in what I thought was an impressive defensive performance from everybody. We got deep into our bench. D.J. Searcy gave us huge contributions. Marten Maide made a big three. Jamal Briscoe comes in and kind of juices the offense while providing elite ball-pressure defense. Overall, we feel good about our weekend. We're still learning some things about our team. There's a lot more in us. Now it's our responsibility as coaches to lead them the right way, find the right answers and keep pushing them toward that growth." – head coach C.J. Haydock. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Warriors' offense was in rhythm from the opening tip, as they went up 11-4 after 5:11 of play.
• Stan State led 17-8 when a jumper from Nate Kendricks sparked the Sunbird offense. 
• The shot was a part of an 11-2 run for the Birds that featured six points from Jamal Briscoe. 
• A layup from Briscoe tied the game at 25 with 2:56 left in the first half.
• The Sunbirds closed out the first half on a 10-4 run that gave them a 33-29 lead at halftime. 
• D.J. Searcy knocked down a jump shot that put FPU up eight after nearly six minutes of play in the second half. 
• A three-pointer from Jelani Watson-Gayle gave the Blue and Orange a 13-point lead with 11:49 to play. 
• The Sunbirds would go on to control the pace of the game for the final ten minutes and would take it 66-50.

STATS FROM THE GAME

• Watson-Gayle went 3-for-5 from three-point range on his way to scoring 13 points while adding five rebounds.
• Kendricks was the only other Sunbird to score in double-figures, finishing with 10 points and five rebounds.
• Sean Nealon-Lino was a monster on the glass, leading everyone with 10 rebounds. 
• FPU's bench scored 31 points, doubling the production from the Warrior reserves. 
• The Blue and Orange scored 10 more points in the paint than Stan State. 
• The Sunbird defense suppressed the Warriors to just five three-pointers for the game. 

WHAT'S NEXT

• Next weekend, the Blue and Orange travel to Oakland, Calif. to take part in the Holy Names Classic. 

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