The Arena Auditorium hosted a historic game on Wednesday night, with the Pokes taking Fresno state to four overtimes and scoring triple digits to edge past the Bulldogs 102-100.
“That was two good teams out there tonight. You have to give Fresno State credit, especially being on the road to withstand the blows and continue to keep fighting,” head coach Allen Edwards said. “I also want to commend our guys for staying the course and coming away with a very good victory, which this time of year is critical to help position ourselves for a strong finish in league play.”
Guard Jason McManamen scored 30 points on the night, marking his career high in points scored in a game. He also played 57 total minutes in the game, shot 47% from the field, and dropped seven three-pointers.
“With Jason (McManamen) being a senior, I was really happy for him. What he did tonight–that is what he is capable of. Our team, and I say our team not just our coaching staff, always believed he would break out of this sometime during the season, and I’m really excited for him tonight,” Edwards said.
Forward Hayden Dalton added his 9th double-double to this season’s stats, scoring 21 points and securing 20 rebounds. He also added five assists, which marks his fifth game this season with at least five. Also scoring his career high, forward Alan Herndon shot 5-10 from the field, sinking four three-pointers and a few free-throws to add 17 points to the Pokes total.
“One of the keys was to rebound well tonight, and I have not been around a game where we got 60 rebounds. It was a tremendous effort and H.D. (Hayden Dalton) had 20 or them by himself. And that trickled, Al (Herndon) had eight. Justin James had nine. Jordan (Naughton) had six. As we move forward, we’re going to continue to need that kind of effort,” Edwards said.
This quadruple overtime win tied for the longest game in men’s NCAA this season, and the previous longest game was played the night before. The Alabama Crimson Tide took the South Carolina Gamecocks to four overtimes to win 90-86. The Pokes’ last and only other four overtime game in its history was in 2002 against Air Force, when they defeated them 83-76.
“It’s probably the craziest game I’ve ever been a part of,” McManamen said. “Four overtimes, so many guys hitting big shots, making big free throws, it was fun.”
The Pokes shot 30-77 and 39% on the night, adding 15 three pointers and 27 free throws. Fresno State shot 32-90 (36%), adding 10 three pointers and 26 free throws. These 90 shot attempts by Fresno were the third most shot all time at the Arena-Auditorium.
Despite the long game, only two pokes fouled out. James picked up his fifth foul in the first overtime, and was replaced by guard Morris Marshall, who has been troubled by injuries this entire season. Herndon then fouled out in the second overtime period and was replaced by Naughton.
“It’s always hard to lose people when they foul out, but we always have guys like (Morris) and other guys on the bench who are always ready to come in and play,” Dalton said. “That’s what we love about our team–we have a deep bench and everybody is always ready to play.”
Coach Edwards also had some thoughts about the impact Morris had on the game.
“For Morris with this being his senior year, it was great to see him have a game like tonight,” Edwards said. “Entering this year, I had plans for him, but he’s dealt with injuries here and there which has made it hard to get him back out on the floor. But he’s always stayed ready, and tonight he hit some big free throws. I’m happy for him.”
The fourth overtime period began after a missed three pointer by McManamen in the final seconds of the third overtime, with the game tied at 90. Fresno nearly took the win but missed their attempt, and the game went into the fourth overtime.
The fourth overtime had five lead changes, but a couple of shots by guard Jeremy Lieberman and McManamen sealed the game, and Fresno was unable to close the gap.
“We all just kept fighting together. We missed some big shots in the overtimes to give us the win, and we all made mistakes, but we never got down on each other and we stuck together and kept fighting until the very end,” McManamen said.
The win raised the Cowboys to 14-10 overall and 6-6 in the Mountain West Conference. Fresno state dropped to 16-9 and 6-6 in the conference. Wyoming and Fresno state are currently tied for fourth in the conference, with Nevada and Boise tied at first, Colorado State at 2nd and New Mexico in the 3rd.
This Saturday, the pokes will travel to Logan, Utah to play Utah State in another conference matchup. Utah State is currently 4-8 in the conference and 10-13 overall.
