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« October 2007 | Main | December 2007 » November 30, 2007Final: Fresno State 30, New Mexico State 23It's over - the Bulldogs get the win over the Aggies 30-23. New Mexico State made it interesting down the stretch, but Fresno State holds on and improves to 8-4 overall and 6-2 in WAC play. Next is the anticipated bowl invitation ... El Diamante, Clovis West lead at halftimeEl Diamante leads Tulare 35-7 at halftime on four Earl Rhodes touchdown runs in front of 6,500 people at a packed Visalia’s Community Stadium on Friday in the Central Section Division II football championship game. Tulare had the ball at midfield with 15 seconds left in the first half. Tried a fourth-down flea-flicker pass by Jake Rufert that was intercepted by Justin Jeffries. In Bakersfield in the Division I final, Clovis West leads Bakersfield 9-6. Aggies cut it to 7New Mexico State quarterback Chase Holbrook scored on a 1-yard run and Paul Young's extra point kick has cut Fresno State's lead to 30-23 with 5:43 to go in the fourth quarter. Three quarters doneFresno State leads New Mexico State 30-16 as the fourth quarter is set to begin in Las Cruces. The Aggies have the ball but face third and long. New Mexico State adds 3Aggies' kicker Paul Young made a 24-yard field goal with 4:30 to go in the third quarter to cut Fresno State's lead to 30-16. Harding in for the scoreFresno State's Anthony Harding scored on a 6-yard run and the extra point kick by Clint Stitser increased the Bulldogs' lead to 30-13 with 8:40 to go in the third quarter. 1st half ends, rain hasn'tFresno State leads New Mexico State at the half 23-13. The rain has been steady the entire game thus far. Championship forecastCalling the shots on Championship Friday: D-I, Clovis West vs. Bakersfield: Drillers score in 20s, that's enough for 7-point victory. Too bad Eagles couldn't throw it; rather, they had no one to throw to, not against quality defense. D-II, Tulare vs. El Diamante: Redskins, playing with a chip, win by 9 because Jontell Reedom's the best player on the field. D-III, Foothill vs. Tehachapi: Warriors control chill and the ball at 4,000-foot elevation, winning by 10. D-IV, Corcoran vs. Taft: Brant Botill fantastic as usual for Panthers, but Wildcats balance on both sides of the ball makes the difference in 2-point triumph. Bulldogs score, take 10-point leadRyan Mathews scored on a 6-yard run and Clint Stitser added the point after as Fresno State opens up the lead to 23-13 with 4:11 to go in the half. The drive started at the Fresno State 25 yard line. Bulldogs get in the end zoneFresno State gets its first lead of the game on a 1-yard sneak by Tom Brandstater. The Bulldogs went for two and the pass from Brandstater to Anthony Harding was good. Bulldogs lead 16-13 with 9:06 left in the second quarter. Aggies score, so does Fresno StateJeremiah Williams of New Mexico State scored on a three-yard run - but the extra point was blocked and Damion Owens scooped up the ball and ran it all the way to the opposing end zone. The result - a safety. New Mexico State leads 13-8. Aggies lead 7-6 after oneNew Mexico State is driving and inside the five yard line with a second and goal as the first quarter ends. 'Dogs get 3 againFresno State moved the ball well again, but the drive ended inside the 10 and Clint Stitser hit his second field goal of the game from 24 yards out to pull the Bulldogs within a point. New Mexico State leads 7-6 with 3:20 to go in the first quarter. Bulldogs get 3Fresno State moved the ball well on its first series, but stalled out on three downs from first-and-goal and settled for a 20-yard field goal by Clint Stitser. Aggies lead 7-3 with 11:11 to go in the first quarter. Aggies strike quicklyWow! On the third play of the game, New Mexico State quarterback Chase Holbrook hit receiver Kenneth Buckley on a 66-yard pass for a touchdown. Paul Young added the extra point to start out 7-0 over Fresno State. Bulldogs: Regular season finaleWe're ready and set to cover the Bulldogs' final regular season football game against New Mexico State. All that's left to be determined is the outcome. November 28, 2007Will Dogs be ready in time for UNLV? Stanford? Arizona?Fresno State, which got past Winston-Salem State last night, plays one more game (Cal State-Monterey Bay on Dec. 5) before starting a tough December road schedule. Do you think the Bulldogs are ready? Can they steal a road win or at the very least, make the games interesting? Could depend on whether Eddie Miller has another hot night, like he did against WSS (25 points, seven 3-pointers). Or Bryan Harvey has another solid performance, or Hector Hernandez breaks out of his long-range shooting slump... Or if Kevin Bell can reach the rim more in half court, without collecting the offensive fouls that have plagued his game in recent games (Sam Houston State, WSS). Or if the Bulldogs get some help off the bench. As it is now, when the Bulldogs starters struggle, coach Steve Cleveland has few options. Typson Parker, Ned G, Shawn Taylor and that's it.
November 27, 2007Eddie Miller plays hero: FS 74, Winston-Salem St. 64Miller scored a game-high 25 points to lead the Bulldogs to a second-half rally. Bryan Harvey added 16 points with eight rebounds. The Bulldogs shot 44% from the field. Darius Floyd led the Rams with 15 points. FS shooting better; trails 45-43 with 14:38 remainingEddie Miller made consecutive 3-pointers and Bryan Harvey added a short jumper to trim the deficit against WInston-Salem State. The Bulldogs are finally shooting better. Now they need to shot the Rams from scoring on the perimeter. WSS has converted seven 3-pointers. FS struggling early against Winston-Salem StateThe Bulldogs trailed by as much as 10 points during the first half of Tuesday night's nonconference game at Winston-Salem State before trimming their deficit to 32-27 at halftime. Fresno State suffered through another slow start from the field, managing two points in the first five minutes and five points midway through the first half. Michael Puckett scored 10 points in the first half, leading the Rams. Paul Davis added nine with two blocks, including one in the final seconds before halftime, stopping Kevin Bell's layup. Eddie Miller scored eight points to lead Fresno State. The Bulldogs shot 32% from the field and 35% on 3-pointers. November 26, 2007A few notes on Winston-Salem State, Tuesday night's opponent-Forward/center Paul Davis is listed as questionable (right ankle). -WSS is being outrebounded this season by a -9.7 margin. -The Rams will play 15 games this season in Winston-Salem. -WSS will play 15 games this season in Winston-Salem, N.C., compared to six last season. The Rams were 3-3 at home in 2006-07. -The Rams will try to become the first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference school to beat Fresno State. The Bulldogs are 6-0 against the conference’s schools with wins against Norfolk State (twice), Maryland-Eastern Shore, Florida A&M, Coppin State and the Rams. -WSS has sent 11 players to the NBA, including Earl "The Pearl" Monroe. He was selected as one of the Top 50 players in NBA history.
Bowlin' football styleFresno State football is eligible for a bowl game. When, where and the opponent is the question. Give us your predictions for postseason action... November 24, 2007Basketball: Bulldogs trail Sam Houston State 34-24 at halfFresno State shot 26% from the field during the first half of Saturday night's nonconference game at Sam Houston State. The Bulldogs did convert nine free throws and Hector Hernandez added 11 points to keep the game close. The Bulldogs also missed all but two of their 13 attempts from 3-point range. DeLuis Ramirez leads Sam Houston State in scoring with nine points. FS vs. Sam Houston St: Pre-game trash talkBulldogs senior Kevin Bell, with his back turned away from Sam Houston State players, rubbed against Sam Houston State freshman Josten Crow, who immediately took exception. Crow moved in front of Bell at halfcourt and began jarring. His teammate, junior Ryan Bennett, joined in, and Fresno State sophomore Bryan Harvey did as well... It ended after 30 seconds of heated "discussions" between both parties. Harvey also earned a heckler in the crowd. Think this guy is gonna ride him all game. Fan is wearing referee jersey on the front row. If not for the jeans, he could sub in as an official. Tip-off in 10 minutes... Season high for yardsFresno State has 478 total yards with 12:53 left in the game to set a season high. The previous high was 475 against both Sacramento State and Nevada. Harding scores to give Bulldogs 45-21 leadAnthony Harding bulled in from 8 yards out to give Fresno State a 45-21 lead with 2:36 left in the third quarter. The drive started at Fresno State's 29 and ate up more than 5 minutes. Brandstater has career high yardageStill in the third quarter, Fresno State quarterback Tom Brandstater already has a career high in passing yardage with 278. His previous high was 263 against Boise State this season. Miller scores to make it 38-21On fourth-and-1 from the Kansas State 4-yard line, Lonyae Miller took a handoff left, made a nice cut inside the fullback's block and ran untouched into the end zone to extend Fresno State's lead to 38-21 with 10 minutes left in the third quarter. The scoring drive started on the Fresno State 9 following the opening kickoff of the second half. Halftime statsTom Brandstater: 15 of 18 for 215 yards and 2 touchdowns. Josh Freeman: 12 of 18 for 137 yards and 1 touchdown. More TV updateAccording to Fresno State associate athletic director Paul Ladwig, it's up to the satellite providers as to which game they'll show. It's not ESPN's call. DirecTV and Dish TV both are showing the game on alternate channels, while Comcast cable is showing it on its regular ESPN2 channel. Halftime: Fresno State 31, Kansas State 21Kansas State scored a touchdown with 2 seconds left before halftime when Josh Freeman rolled right and found Jordy Nelson in the end zone. Freeman connected with Nelson on five passes during the drive that started at the Wildcats' 20, including on the last three plays. Marlon Moore catches second TDOn a nice fade pattern in the end zone, Marlon Moore caught his second touchdown pass of the day from Tom Brandstater. This one was a 5-yarder with 1:08 left in the first half to give Fresno State a 31-14 lead. Earlier, Brandstater and Moore connected on a 34-yarder in the first quarter. Brandstater having maybe his best game everFresno State quarterback has been as accurate as he's been all season, including a 34-yard touchdown pass to Marlon Moore in the first quarter. He completed 7 of his first 8 passes and even scored on a quarterback sneak. The difference today is that he's hitting open receivers in position for them to make catches. He's not overthrowing as much as he's done this season. TV updateThe game is being shown on Comcast cable's ESPN2. On DirecTV, it's being shown on an alternate ESPN channel, 211. We're back ... and Fresno State is upA quick catchup after some technical difficulties on our end: The Bulldogs lead 24-14 with 9:43 left in the first half. Ryan Mathews just scored on a 2-yard run following a fumble by Kansas State. Charles Tolbert forced the fumble by Wilcats quarterback Josh Freeman and Tyler Clutts recovered at the Kansas State 6. Fresno State, on it's previous possession used a roughing-the-punter penalty to keep a drive alive that ended with a Tom Brandstater 1-yard QB sneak for a touchdown. Television mysteryIt appears the game is not being shown on ESPN2 on all cable/satellite providers. From what we can tell, it is being shown on alternate ESPN channels if you have Dish TV or DirecTV. Kansas State scores firstOn its first possession, Kansas State needed only 2 minutes to get on the scoreboard when James Johnson ran 67 yards for a touchdown. Johnson took a handoff, ran left and sprinted untouched to the end zone to give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead. Fresno State fumbled on its first possession at the Kansas State 6-yard line. November 23, 2007Playoff predictionsIt will go this way tonight in Division I-IV semfinals and the D-V championship: D-I D-II D-III D-IV D-V November 21, 2007And we have a final 86-74The Bulldogs quenched a run midway thru the second half to beat Montana State 86-74. Kevin Bell finished with 18 pts, 10 assists, 2 steals, on 6-11 shooting. He was 6 of 8 from the line. B-Harv scored 17 points and had 7 rebounds. He was 3 for 5 from beyond the 3-point line. The Bulldogs came into the game shooting 61% from the line ... they shot an incredible 90% that's right 90% from the line Wed. night. They were 27-of-30. The difference in the game looking at it now, was definitely the free throw shooting. If the Bulldogs shoot like they usually do (61.4% coming into the game), the game is 9 points closer -- an extremely tight win. Here's some post-game analysis: "They're lucky they have Kevin Bell, becuase they don't score unless he assists someone." -- an anonymous reporter ... Bell had 10 assists "Every time I look at that Webster guy I get tired." -- that same reporter ... he does have sleepy eyes.
KB eating them upKevin Bell plucked the MSU point guard twice at midcourt and took it in for a layup. He just got a mismatch with a big man and drove on him for a layup, too. halftime 47-30The Bulldogs have pulled out to a good lead at the half. Tyson Parker gets first actionTyson Parker got into the game for the first time this seaon with about 14:00 in the first half after being activated from his redshirt season earlier this week. Bulldogs out to quick startIn my year here, I don't remember Bulldog nation being able to sit down more quickly after the opening tip Hector Hernandez went to his patented left hoook in the post for a BUlldogs basket and Eddie Miller just a hit a 2. November 20, 2007Blind runner getting noticedA small update about Marsha Martin, the subject of the Nov. 14 column. She would be the 55-year-old local runner who just finished the Trail of 2 Cities Half Marathon for the third time. Not bad for a woman who has been completely blind since birth. My friend Jill Holstein was asked to be Marsha's guide for the Trail of 2 Cities this year. Jill agreed, then made the mistake of telling me about it. (In case you wondered how column ideas come about.) So I asked Marsha and Jill if I could run along. Luckily, none of us are threatening any world half-marathon records, so it was a perfect pace for 2 hours, 45 minutes and 45 seconds of chatting. Not that we were counting. I've been told that someone sent a copy of the column to the national magazine Runner's World, and its editors are interested in doing a story on Marsha, so if there is any truth to that rumor, I will update you here shortly. Here's a photo of us before the race began, at Woodward Park in Fresno, where they hold many high school cross country events, including the California state meet. As you can see, there was almost no regard for my never-wake-up-before-10 a.m. rule. 
(That's Marsha on the left, Jill in the middle, and yours truly doing his best Andre Agassi impression, on the right.) Several notes didn't make the column, including the fact that Marsha spent three years with the Peace Corps in South America. After that, she stayed down there for three more years working as a missionary for a church. Amazing woman. Many strong opinions about a variety of topics. I will pass along one: Marsha is a big sports fan and listens to games on both radio and television. I wanted to know who she thought was the best play-by-play person working today. Marsha does have a pretty unique perspective, since she can't actually watch the games or highlight shows. Her pick: Jon Miller, the radio voice of the San Francisco Giants. He also does Sunday Night Baseball for ESPN, as well as postseason games. "[Miller] always tells you the score," Marsha says. "A lot of guys don't." So who's the worst? She says it's the guy who called college football games with former-Miami-quarterback-turned-color-commentator Gino Torretta last season. Marsha can't remember his name, but apparently he has been replaced this year. Five-thousand points to anyone who knows Torretta's former on-air partner, mostly because I'm too lazy to look it up. Will Montana State upset Cleveland's Bulldogs?This isn't the same Montana State team which lost twice last season to Fresno State. Last Friday, Montana State upset Boise State 86-84 in Bozeman, Mont., thanks to Casey Durham's jumper with three seconds left. Durham, a senior, scored 16 points. Freshman Bobby Howard scored a game-high 27 points. On Nov. 9, Montana State, trailing by as much as 20 against UNLV, rallied before losing 76-65. The Bobcats outrebounded UNLV 48-39. As they did last year, the Bobcats are expected to run tons of screens and cuts. Run the shotclock down before shooting. It takes a lot of patience to defend against this type of offense. The Bulldogs will surely be tested. Against Cal State Bakersfield, Fresno State was beat at its own game. The Roadrunners' transition game and post play set the tone for the upset. Without Dwight O'Neil available (broken wrist), the Bulldogs are without their best defender... Could be long night at Save Mart Center if the Bulldogs aren't patient on defense. November 19, 2007Dwight O'Neil out; Tyson Parker gives up redshirtO'Neil injured his wrist during Saturday night's loss at Cal State-Bakersfield... Parker planned to redshirt his senior year then start the 2008-09 season as the starting point guard. The loss of O'Neil hurts the Bulldogs because of their lack of penetrators off the dribble. O'Neil and point guard Kevin Bell are the only two, and Bell favors it in transition versus the half court. Eddie Miller and Bryan Harvey are known for their perimeter scoring. O'Neil averaged 13.5 points and 2.8 rebounds in four games. He also took 17 free throws, second only to Bell(32). Whether O'Neil can return this season is unknown. The news, though, is another blow to a team which is trying to develop scoring in the post and add more layups and free throws of its offense, instead of relying on 3-pointers so much, as what happens when the offense losses its focus. Cleveland said after Saturday's game that he would have preferred O'Neil to take the final shot, but he was already out of the game, his right wrist in too much pain to shoot. Fresno State football finishHow do you see the Bulldogs football season concluding? Will there be a bowl game invitation? November 17, 2007Bulldogs lose in upset, 65-64Fresno State lost an exciting, fast-paced game Saturday to CSUF-Bakersfield, 65-64, in the Roadrunners' first Division I game at home. halftime 32-30 DogsThe Bulldogs are up 32-30 at the half ... perhaps a little unexpected. Freshmen getting timeBulldogs freshmen Ned G. and Brandon Webster are seeing action. Ned is the first freshman to start under coach Steve Cleveland. This is Webster's first action as a Bulldog. Bulldogs 1st quarterAlex Blair is playing ... and scoring. He's had two transition scores, a layup and a dunk. Guess the bruised heal wasn't bothering him that much ... but we'll see how long he lasts. Bulldogs-RoadrunnerFreshman Ned Golubovic is going to get the start for the Bulldogs tonight.
The BUlldogs' fans have showed up here too. |