Rice Beats Fresno --At Fresno

[50's PONY]

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fresnoBee.com
Faked out of first
By Jeff Passan
The Fresno Bee
Published 01/23/04 06:00:37

Up jumped Terry Pettis, legs flailing, arms extended, face gripped with worry.
Beneath him was Rice guard Jason McKrieth, purveyor of the pump fake that sent Pettis flying and Fresno State to its second consecutive loss.

With Pettis in the air, McKrieth coolly stroked an 18-foot jump shot with 1 second remaining that vaulted Rice into first place in the Western Athletic Conference with a 65-63 victory Thursday in front of an announced crowd of 14,226 at the Save Mart Center.

For the first time in Bulldogs coach Ray Lopes' tenure, his team fell out of first. Fresno State (9-7, 5-2 WAC) dropped its second consecutive game in the same fashion it beat Rice (13-4, 5-1) at Selland Arena last season.

Damon Jackson, the senior savior, knocked down a 15-foot jump shot to give Fresno State a 71-70 victory Jan. 4, 2003.

"Oh, I remember that," said McKrieth, a junior who tied a career-high with 24 points on 10-for-14 shooting. "Damon hit a big shot. We learned from that game."

McKrieth particularly.

Seconds earlier, Pettis, who scored a career-high 22, played hero for the Bulldogs. Fresno State trailed 63-60 and point guard Shantay Legans drove into the lane.

Cut off, Legans spun and found Pettis standing 2 feet behind the 3-point line. Without hesitating, Pettis fired a shot and tiptoed backward, knowing the moment it left his fingers that it would splash through the net.

"I'm thinking we're going to win at that point," senior center Mustafa Al-Sayyad said. "We had momentum. We know we're going to get a stop."

Only McKrieth, rude guest he was, intervened.

Rice ran a play for junior forward Michael Harris, who scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half. When the play broke down, McKrieth improvised.

He ran to an unencumbered area on the right wing and took a pass from point guard Rashid Smith. Pettis squared up on the 6-foot-4, 210-pound McKrieth and cut off a lane to the basket.

So instead, McKrieth used Pettis' aggression against him.

"There wasn't enough time to pass the ball around, so I attacked," McKrieth said. "I put a shot fake, he bit on it, I eluded him and hit a tough shot."

When Legans' half-court prayer fell short, it marked the third time this season the Bulldogs lost a home game after leading with less than 5 minutes remaining.

Against Creighton, Nate Funk made a 3-pointer that sent the game into overtime, where the Bluejays won 70-62. In USC's victory, the Trojans held Fresno State the last 5:37 without a field goal.

Same old, same old against the Owls.

Jonathan Woods' layup with 4 minutes remaining gave the Bulldogs a 58-54 lead.

Then Legans missed a 3-pointer. Pettis bricked a jumper. Legans misfired on another 3. Al-Sayyad was too strong on a free throw. Same with a Marcus West 3-pointer.

Two Legans free throws with 59 seconds left snapped a drought of 3:01, during which the Owls went on a 7-0 run and regained momentum.

"They don't quit," Lopes said. "They continue to play their basketball and make big plays. And they made big plays when they went down."

Big in scope and volume.

In that 7-0 run, Harris flushed a rebound dunk. McKrieth's putback dunk on the Owls' next possession was even more impressive, with Woods fouling him simultaneously.

McKrieth made the free throw, making him 27 for 27 from the line in WAC play this season.

"I kept telling him he's got to knock down big shots," Wilson said. "This was a confidence game for us. Fresno State dictated the pace until we had a few defensive stands. That made our guys believe."

Believe they should. Close losses against No. 2 Stanford and No. 4 Connecticut this season imbued the Owls with the self-assurance necessary to knock off the defending WAC regular-season champions.

At the beginning of the second half, neither team seemed inclined to take control.

Rice took a 33-30 halftime lead, paced by 10 points from McKrieth. A one-handed scoop shot by Legans capped a 7-0 run that put the Bulldogs ahead 44-39.

Wilson, angered by Rice's inability to run its offense with the crowd blistering the Owls' ears, called two timeouts within a 1-minute span.

Those moments simply set up the Owls' comeback and the Bulldogs' spiral.

"Fresno's Fresno," McKrieth said. "They're always tough at home. We came in here. First place was on the line.

"We did what we needed to do."

The reporter can be reached at jpassan@fresnobee.com or 441-6400.


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