Fresno State Rocks Air Force 76-50 Behind Balanced Scoring Attack
Bulldogs are on to the semifinals after a drubbing of Air Force
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Fresno State shuts down Air Force to advance in the Mountain West Tournament
What a difference three weeks makes.
Fresno State dismantles Air Force 76-50 in Thursday’s quarterfinal behind Deshon Taylor’s 18 points. Aguir Agau added 16 points for the Bulldogs while Nate Grimes (13 points) and New Williams (12 points) also finished in double figures.
It was a completely different night than when these last two met. Fresno State was stunned at home by Air Force at home on February 20, trailing by as many as 17 in the eventual 64-61 loss.
This time, it was all Bulldogs.
A Christian Gray lay-up with 13:28 remaining in the first half gave Fresno a 15-13 lead and Justin Hutson’s squad never looked back. The final score, in fact, was the Bulldogs’ largest lead at 26 points. It was a complete performance by a team that figures to be a tough matchup with Utah State on Friday night.
Fresno State enjoyed a complete offensive performance, knocking down 16 of its 38 three-point attempts and living off the three ball throughout the night. Air Force didn’t have an answer for the Bulldogs attack.
With the win, Fresno State moves on to the semifinals where it will take on No. 2 seed Utah State. The two split the season series, with Fresno winning at Utah State 78-77 and the Aggies returning the favor with an 82-81 victory in Fresno.
Eli Boettger is the lead basketball writer at Mountain West Wire. He’s covered Mountain West basketball since 2015 and his work has been featured on Bleacher Report, NBC Sports, SB Nation, Yahoo Sports, MSN, and other platforms. Boettger is a current USBWA member.
