Marcus West scored 21 points and Mustafa Al-Sayyad added 13 points and 15 rebounds Saturday night as Fresno State snapped Hawaii’s six-game winning streak with a 69-58 victory in the Western Athletic Conference opener for both teams. Despite committing fewer
Marcus West scored 21 points and Mustafa Al-Sayyad added 13 points and 15 rebounds Saturday night as Fresno State snapped Hawaii’s six-game winning streak with a 69-58 victory in the Western Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
Despite committing fewer turnovers than Fresno State (21-to-15), the ones Hawaii threw away did the most damage.
Hawaii (8-3) closed to 49-47 with under 10 minutes left on Jason Carter’s 3-pointer, but the Rainbow Warriors then turned the ball over three times, two of them leading to four Fresno State points.
That extended the lead out to six,and the Bulldogs (5-5) allowed Hawaii to get no closer than three points the rest of the way by holding them to just two field goals and five free throws in the game’s final 7:15.
Phil Martin led Hawaii with 18 points while leading scorer Michael Kuebler was held to just 10 points, 11 below his average, on 3-of-16 shooting.
Both teams flexed their offensive power in the first half, with Hawaii shooting 54 percent (13-of-24) and the Bulldogs 58 percent (15-of-26) en route to a 37-33 Fresno State halftime lead.