Fresno State stuns Long Beach State with game-ending run – Whittier Daily News

LONG BEACH — Long Beach State dominated for extended stretches of its game against Fresno State on Saturday afternoon, but the Bulldogs scored the final 14 points to hand LBSU a stunning 72-69 defeat at the Walter Pyramid.

Long Beach (1-5) overcame a staggering 44-4 disparity in free-throw attempts and seemed poised to close out a win after an Austin Johnson dunk gave the hosts an 11-point lead with 2:48 left, but the visitors put together a furious finishing kick.

LBSU turnovers, the Bulldogs (3-2) being well outside of the bonus on team fouls and consistent scoring for Fresno all played factors in the way the final minutes unfolded.

Fresno, which had already forced nine turnovers in the second half, turned up the pressure even more in the final minutes and forced four more, all of which resulted in Bulldogs points.

Mykell Robinson started the run when he hit a jumper with 2:30 left. David Douglas Jr. stolen the ball from Long Beach’s Devin Askew and found Elijah Price for a layup that cut the margin to 69-62 with 1:42 left. Another Douglas steal, this time from TJ Wainwright, led to an Amar Augillard layup with 1:17 left.

Price then stole the ball from Askew and was fouled, making one of two free throws to get the Bulldogs within 69-65 with 1:09 left. Price grabbed an offensive rebound off his miss, and Askew then fouled Augillard on a 3-point attempt. He made all three free throws to get Fresno within 69-68 with 59 seconds left.

After a timeout, Long Beach turned the ball over again on a five-second violation. Following the turnover, Augillard kicked a pass to Douglas, who made a 3-pointer from the wing for a 71-69 lead – Fresno’s first of the game – with 42 seconds left.

Long Beach’s Cam Denson missed a layup with 20 seconds left, and Fresno then made one more free throw to make it a three-point lead. LBSU had two chances on its final possession but came up empty. Askew missed a layup with 11 seconds left, then Wainwright missed a 3-point shot with two seconds left.

Long Beach took advantage of a frigid start for Fresno. The Bulldogs made just 2 of their first 21 shots from the field, and LBSU had a 14-3 lead five minutes into the game. An Andrew Nagy 3-pointer pushed the margin to 31-14 with 7:07 left in the first half. The Bulldogs were able to cut the margin to single digits late in the half thanks to the free-throw advantage, but a Varick Lewis 3-pointer helped Long Beach take a 39-28 lead to the locker room.

Fresno shot just 5 for 29 (17.2%) from the field in the opening half but went 17 for 25 at the free-throw line to keep the game from getting out of hand.

The Bulldogs made a push in the later stages of the second half, an Augillard 3-pointer capping a 13-2 run that got them within 56-54 with with 7:21 left. Long Beach responded with a 9-0 run to open an 11-point lead with 3:19 remaining, setting the stages for the wild finish.

Askew led Long Beach with 19 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Wainwright had 13 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals. Denson had eight points and six rebounds, Nagy had eight points, Lewis scored seven and Johnson had six points and a team-best 11 rebounds.

Augillard paced Fresno with 25 points (16 in the second half), while Robinson added 16 points, going 10 for 10 at the free throw line, seven rebounds and five assists. Douglas had 10 points and four of the Bulldogs’ 10 steals.