Elijah Price made his return to the Save Mart Center on Saturday afternoon and showed the Bulldogs exactly what they were missing, leading the Nevada Wolfpack to a 66-65 victory over Fresno State.
The former Bulldog big man scored 15 points (5-10 FG) and grabbed 9 rebounds. His biggest impact came on the defensive end where he had four blocks and four steals, causing havoc in the interior. Fresno State Head Coach Vance Walberg had high praise for Price after the game.
“He’s not a fantastic offensive player, but he’s going to find a way to score, he’s going to find a way to get to the free throw line. He’s going to rebound for you. He’s going to defend. He does all the intangibles that it takes to win games,” Walberg said. “That’s why we recruited him.”
The 6’9” forward averaged 10.5 PPG and 8.3 RPG and over two-and-a-half blocks plus steals per game as a redshirt freshman last season before transferring to Nevada. Price has put up similar results this season for the Wolfpack, though with increased efficiency from beyond the arc.
For Fresno State, Jake Heidbreder scored 25 points on 9-of-19 from the field, including five threes. It wasn’t enough though as the loss marked six straight dropping the ‘Dogs to 6-8 on the season and 0-3 in the Mountain West after a 6-2 start.
The close losses have been piling up but Walberg still believes in his team.
“We’re right there. I think we’re good enough to play with every team in this conference. I’m not saying we’re good enough to beat them all the time. But we’re good enough, and if we do want to beat them, we’ve got to do all the little things.”
Walberg added that offensive rebounding and protecting the basketball are two key areas of concern as the season progresses.
“We’ve had a problem all year with taking care of the ball, and again, it came back and bit us today with 15 turnovers. We’ve got to keep our turnovers in that eight to 10 range, and we just didn’t do that,” Walberg said.
Key players
- Jake Heidbreder (FS): 25 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals
- Wilson Jacques (FS): 8 points, 12 rebounds
- Elijah Price (NEV): 15 points, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks, 4 steals
- Tyler Rolison (NEV): 16 points (6-11 FG)
What happened
Price made his return to the Save Mart Center and made his mark early with a pair of early layups. It was the Jake Heidbreder show on Saturday though. Cameron Faas found the senior marksman open in the corner for his third three of the game. A Wilson Jacques dunk and a pullup jumper from Zaon Collins capped off a quick 8-3 run to give the Bulldogs an 18-15 lead (8:06 remaining in first half).
Collins found Deshawn Gory in the final minute of the half for an open three to give Fresno State a 26-21 lead heading into halftime. Neither team shot particularly well, making a combined 32 percent of its shots.
After a rough first offensively, Nevada opened the second half with a pair of baskets from Tayshawn Comer and Kaleb Lowery. The Bulldogs answered back with a layup from Collins and a pair of fastbreak layups from Deshawn Gory. The Wolfpack responded though with a trio of threes from Vaughn Weems (two) and Lowery to cut Fresno State’s lead to 35-34.
Wolfpack guard Tyler Rolison scored on three consecutive possessions, capping off a 15-6 run for Nevada. Heidbreder ended the run by nailing a three from the wing in front of the Fresno State bench to give the Bulldogs a 42-40 lead with 12 minutes remaining in the game.
Neither team was able to establish much of a lead throughout the game. A pair of free throws from Rolison was answered by a Collins layup. An and-one from Price was sandwiched in between a pair of Gory layups (14 points). A couple minutes later, Price made it back to the basket for another three only for Heidbreder to nail another three from the corner to give the ‘Dogs a 57-53 lead with five minutes to go.
Hiedbreder drove to the layup to give the Bulldogs a 65-64 lead with 25 seconds remaining in the game but Fresno State had no answer for Rolison who had 14 second half points including a layup with 10 seconds to go. Fresno State had one more opportunity to go down the court but couldn’t find anything open.
“I wanted to try and set up a screen at midcourt and see what we get, but it got stuck. I tried to call the time out there, and [the refs] didn’t recognize it until it got tipped,” Walberg said.
Walberg thought the team played 39 minutes of “pretty good” basketball, but the inability to finish it off “feels like a waste.”
What’s next
The Bulldogs hit the road again next week for a pair of in-state matchups beginning with San Jose State at the Provident Credit Union Event Center on Tuesday at 7 p.m. They will end the week on Saturday playing the San Diego State Aztecs at 8 p.m. from Viejas Arena.
Recap written by Al Scott, cover photo by Ryan Sepulveda (FSM).