Grinning ear to ear, Head Coach Vance Walberg spoke after the game following the team’s three game winning streak.
“It feels great winning. I always tell you, ‘best drug in the world,” Walberg said.
Fresno State improved to 5-2 with an 85-76 victory over the University of New Orleans on Friday night, led by Clemson transfer Jake Heidbreder who scored a career high 33 points. Zaon Collins also flirted with a triple double.
“It’s the hardest working team I’ve probably been on. Everyone’s in the gym every day getting extra shots up, working together, doing all this type of stuff to where we’re gonna make the shots. What happens when you work that hard,” Heidbreder said. “It’s showing the game is just the reward of it.”
Heidbreder leads the team scoring 19 points per game this season, while shooting 50% from the field and 35.4% from beyond the arc.
The Bulldogs have now won 4 of its last 5 games since losing to USC Upstate. The team is just one win away from its win total from a year ago. Walberg remains optimistic that there is still potential to grow.
“We’re going to get much better than what we are now. Hopefully that translates to wins, but I just know we’re still trying to figure out how to do certain things,” Walberg said.
Key players
- Jake Heidbreder (FS): 33 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal.
- Zaon Collins (FS): 14 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals.
- Jakevion Buckley (NOLA): 25 points, 14 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal.
- MJ Thomas (NOLA): 16 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists.
What happened
It was the Jake Heidbreder show in the first half. The Clemson transfer scored the Bulldogs first eight points of the game and 14 of the first 19, giving Fresno State a 19-14 lead seven-and-a-half minutes into the game.
“I gave him 52 seconds off tonight. But he’s in that kind of shape where he can keep playing, keep playing, keep playing. And you know, he tries to work down it, his opponent, that’s what we’re trying to do. I just got to find ways to get him shots a little bit easier for him,” Walberg said.
During that span, Privateers big man Churchill Abass was given a flagrant two and ejected after biting Fresno State point guard Zaon Collins while scrambling for a loose ball (Yes, that is a real sentence).
“[Zaon] comes up with some goofy stuff. ‘He bit me,’ you know, so we asked the referees to check it, and he obviously bit him,” Walberg said. “In 48 years of coaching, I’ve never seen that in the basketball game.”
Walberg added that Abass was a pretty good rebounder and he was relieved it gave them a bit of a break in that department. The two squads both finished with 36 rebounds on the night.
A pair of free throws a few minutes later from New Orleans forward MJ Thomas cut the score to 22-20. Fresno State took control of the game over the next several minutes with a 15-6 run, extending its lead to 37-26. The Bulldogs last field goal in the first half however came on a layup from Heidbreder with over six minutes remaining.
The Privateers took advantage, erasing an 11 point deficit to make it 39-37 with 43 seconds left in the first half. A pair of free throws from Gasper Kocevar gave the Bulldogs a 41-37 lead going into halftime.
At half, Heidbreder had 19 points to lead Fresno State in scoring. New Orleans had three players with 8+ points. Neither team shot particularly well; however, with Fresno State making 12-of-31 from the field. New Orleans made 11-of-29 and just 2-of-11 from beyond the arc.
Jakevion Buckley opened the second half with a layup but it was answered right back with a dish from Collins inside to big man Wilson Jacques. DeShawn Gory and Heidbreder followed with a pair of threes to give the Bulldogs a 49-41 lead.
The Privateers went on a brief 5-0 run before Collins found Jacques again. The next possession, following a rebound Collins found Gory open in front of the Bulldog bench for a corner three. De ja vu entered the building as the Privateers went on another 5-0 run, thanks to a pair of jump shots from Coleton Benson.
Bulldog forward Cameron Faas made a layup with just over eight minutes left in the game, giving Fresno State a 69-61 lead. A bad pass leading to a turnover forced a Privateers timeout.
“We’re gonna live and die with Jake shooting,” Walberg said.
They did just that and it worked out.
The Bulldogs went on to win 85-76 led by Heidbreder, who made 11-of-14 from the field including 4-of-6 from three. Fresno State as a team shot 47% from the field and 9-of-27 from three.
Collins had 14, 10 and 7 in a do-it-all effort. He also had three steals on defense. Gory (11 points) was the only other Bulldog to score in double figures.
“They are our two leaders. They’re the ones that got to perform each night,” Walberg said. “Tonight they both had a very good game and that’s why we won.”
Buckley had 25 points (9-of-16 FG) to lead New Orleans. He also had 14 rebounds.
What’s next
The Bulldogs will play at Pepperdine on Wednesday, Nov. 26, before hosting CSU Bakersfield downtown at Selland Arena on Sunday, Nov. 30 to finish the month.
It is worth noting that Pepperdine beat New Orleans 90-79 on Tuesday, Nov. 18.
The Bulldogs don’t return to the Save Mart Center until Dec. 30, hosting Utah State for the second game of Mountain West Conference play.
Story written by Al Scott, photos from Vincent Ordonio (Fresno Sports Magazine)