Senior forward Nate Grimes scored 23 points and Fresno State took advantage of Cal Poly’s cold shooting in the second half for a 62-37 victory in a non-conference men’s basketball game between central California rivals Saturday night in Mott Athletics Center.
Senior guard New Williams added 11 for the visiting Bulldogs (3-7), who turned a 24-21 halftime lead into a 47-24 advantage in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Cal Poly (2-8) missed its first 10 floor shots of the second half, finally breaking the drought with a jump shot by sophomore guard Junior Ballard with seven minutes to play in the game.
Ballard scored 10 points, his team-leading seventh double-digit game, for Cal Poly, which was held to its lowest point total since a 39-38 win at CSUN on Jan. 21, 1983. The Mustangs made just one of 16 three-pointers and was held to only 16 points after the break — five during Fresno State’s 25-5 run in the first 13 minutes and 11 more the rest of the way.
Cal Poly’s only lead of the game came courtesy of freshman guard Colby Rogers’ jumper for a 2-0 advantage 1 minute, 40 seconds into the game. Rogers made his first career start. Fresno State scored the next seven points of the game and never looked back.
Senior guard Job Alexander’s driving layup at the buzzer ending the first half cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 24-21 at the half before Fresno State pulled away in the second half.
Fresno State outrebounded Cal Poly 45-25, paced by freshman forward Orlando Robinson’s 15 boards and 12 from Grimes. Fourteen of Fresno State’s rebounds were on its offensive end of the floor. Freshman forward Alimamy Koroma grabbed six rebounds for Cal Poly.
The Bulldogs made 43 percent of their floor shots (23 of 53), including seven of 24 from long range. Fresno State committed 20 turnovers to 15 for Cal Poly.
Cal Poly plays two games next week, visiting Sacramento State on Wednesday before returning home to host CSU Bakersfield on Saturday. Both non-conference games tip off at 7 p.m.
-Provided by Cal Poly
