Seattle University held the early lead and threatened to come from behind in the second half, but the Redhawks could not overcome a career scoring performance by Fresno State sophomore Kevin Olekaibe, whose 43 points helped the Bulldogs pull out a 78-72 victory Thursday night at the Save Mart Center.
Aaron Broussard (Federal Way, Wash.) led the Redhawks with 19 points and seven rebounds, while Clarence Trent (Tacoma, Wash.) shot 7-of-11 from the field in scoring 14 points and Prince Obasi (Reseda, Calif.) came off the bench and contributed 12 points and five assists. However, Olekaibe shot 12-of-25 from the field, including five made three-pointers, and 14-of-14 from the free throw line in accumulating his 43 points, the most by a Fresno State player in almost 12 years and the most against Seattle U in over six years.
After Olekaibe scored the first basket of the game, Seattle U went on a 12-4 scoring run, punctuated by a three-pointer from Chad Rasmussen (University Place, Wash.) to take a six-point lead. After a three-point play from Olekaibe, the Redhawks scored seven unanswered points, with Trent ending the run with a dunk, to take their biggest lead of the game at 19-9 with 11:44 left in the first half.
Fresno State (13-16) scored nine straight points, six of them by Olekaibe along with a three-pointer from Steven Shepp, to pull within one before Broussard stopped the run with a layup. A traditional three-point play from Kevin Foster tied the game at 23-23, but a Broussard layup and a Rasmussen three-pointer helped Seattle U reestablish a five-point advantage with 4:27 remaining before halftime.
Olekaibe answered an Obasi three-pointer with one of his own, and the Bulldogs chipped away at the Redhawk lead, with Foster hitting a jumper as time ran out to close the Seattle U lead to one at halftime, 33-32. Seattle U shot 58.3 percent from the field in the first half and held Fresno State to 34.4 percent field goal shooting, but the Bulldogs were 8-for-8 from the free throw line while the Redhawks made just 1-of-4 attempts from the charity stripe before halftime.
Olekaibe hit back-to-back three-pointers to open the second half, giving Fresno State a five-point lead, before Seattle U went on a 7-2 run to pull into a 40-40 tie. Consecutive three-pointers by Tyler Johnson and Olekaibe led to a six-point lead for the Bulldogs, but the Redhawks responded with seven unanswered points, the last two on a layup by Broussard as Seattle U retook the lead, 49-48.
Halfway through the second half, Olekaibe hit another three-pointer to give the Bulldogs the lead for good, as Fresno State extended its advantage with a 13-4 scoring run over a four-minute span. Two free throws from Cervante Burrell (Sacramento, Calif.) and a traditional three-point play by Broussard brought the Redhawks within four at 63-59, but the Bulldogs started a parade to the foul line, going 15-for-18 from the charity stripe in the final five-and-a-half minutes to hold onto the lead without making a field goal in that span.
The Redhawks cooled off in the second half, hitting only 40.5 percent of their field goal attempts after halftime. However, Fresno State took advantage of its opportunities from the free throw line, hitting 79.5 percent (31-of-39) of its attempts from the charity stripe in the game, while Seattle U missed half of its free throw chances (8-of-16). Fresno State won the rebounding battle, 37-35, led by 11 rebounds from Jerry Brown.
Seattle University (10-15) will end the 2011-12 season with two home games, beginning next Wednesday, Feb. 29, against Longwood University starting at 7:10 p.m. at KeyArena. Tickets for both that game and the March 10 season finale against Portland State are on sale through Ticketmaster and at the KeyArena Box Office.