KMPH FOX 26 | Central San Joaquin Valley News SourceHill Hired By NFL's Falcons; Fresno St. Hoops: Men Lose, Women Win

Pat Hill is headed back to the NFL. The Atlanta Falcons hire the former Fresno State head man to coach their offensive line. Hill who spent 15 seasons at Fresno State, joins his third NFL franchise. Having also coached the offensive lines with the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens. Former Bulldog Andrew Jackson is an offensive lineman in Atlanta.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The Bulldogs erased another double-digit second-half deficit, but came up short on the road at New Mexico State in the final seconds as the Aggies edged Fresno State 60-56 on Saturday night at the Pan American Center.

"We really challenged our guys to be more physical and take care of the details - screening, executing and owning the ball - and there's no doubt we competed," head coach Rodney Terry said.

Down 39-29 with 16:26 to play, Fresno State rattled off a 14-0 run to take a 43-39 lead and sparked an exciting battle to the final buzzer.

The Bulldogs led as late as the final two minutes after sophomore Jerry Brown dropped in a jumper for a 55-54 edge.

New Mexico State (15-7, 5-2 WAC) retook the lead at 56-55 on a Daniel Mullings breakaway dunk with 1:52 to play and sophomore guard Kevin Olekaibe hit a free throw to tie it at 56-56 with 1:24 left.

NMSU's Wendell McKines, the WAC's leading scorer, slammed down the go-ahead dunk for the final two of his game-high 20 points and Tyrone Watson hit two free throws with 14 seconds left to seal the victory for the Aggies.

McKines, a fifth-year senior and preseason All-WAC selection, also recorded a double-double by adding 10 of New Mexico State's 46 boards.

Fresno State played 40 minutes of zone defense to counter the Aggies' significant height and size advantage that led to NMSU outrebounding the 'Dogs by 21 on the glass, but the Bulldogs forced 17 turnovers and kept within striking distance throughout the game.

"Our gameplan was to pack it inside," Terry said. "We really had to limit their second chance points, but we didn't do it."

NMSU outscored Fresno State 18-5 on second chance points and 28-18 in the paint. 

Olekaibe led the Bulldogs with 18 points, including 10 in the first half, while Brown added 13 and senior Jonathan Wills also reached double-digits with 10 over 27 minutes.

"I was impressed at the 50-50 balls we were winning in the second half and at how we competed," Terry said. "We are going to grow from this down the stretch."

Fresno State (9-14, 1-6) will face Idaho (11-10, 4-3) on Thursday night at the Save Mart Center, with tip off slated for 7 p.m. PT.

FRESNO, Calif. - A crowd of 3,585 at the Save Mart Center chanted defense, defense and the Fresno State women's basketball team delivered one of their best defensive games of the season. The Bulldogs defeated Hawai'i 83-48on Saturday night.

"We played a very confident Hawai'i team tonight," said head coach Adrian Wiggins. "And we handled it well. We were sharing the ball and finding the open shot."

Fresno State (17-4, 5-0 WAC) typically gives possession to opponents in the opening jump ball because Wiggins wants the Bulldogs to play defense first. And that is just what the `Dogs did by opening the game with a steal.

"We came out playing our game from start to finish," said sophomore Taylor Thompson. "We played defense, played fast, got steals and shared the ball. I am very proud of how well we played tonight."

Turnovers continued to spark Fresno State's defense. The Bulldogs forced 30 turnovers that resulted in 36 points for the `Dogs. Fresno State only turned the ball over 14 times. Hawai'i was limited to scoring under 10-points until the 8:07 minute mark in the first half.

Sophomore Ki-Ki Moore tied her career-high 28 points. She has scored 28 points in three different games this season and is averaging 17.2 points per game. Moore also grabbed four rebounds and recorded two assists.

Freshmen Alex Sheedy and Madison Parrish also scored in double figures with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Thompson grabbed a team-high five rebounds.

Moore fueled an opening 22-4 run with 11 points. The guard finished the first half with 23 points, one shy of what the Rainbow Wahine scored. Fresno State led Hawai'i 41-24 at half time.

The second half started with a 10-2 run by the Bulldogs that increased their lead to 51-26 with 17:17 to play. The Rainbow Wahine was held to just 10 in the first 12 minutes points in the second half.

With the win over Hawai'i, the `Dogs remain the only undefeated team in the WAC and are a game ahead of Utah State, who is 4-1. Fresno State has outscored WAC opponents 406-280, which is by an average of 25.2 points per game.

The Bulldogs continue WAC action next and head to New Mexico State on Feb. 2 at 5:30 p.m. PT.

Fresno State celebrated National Girls and Women in Sports Day by honoring former Bulldogs coaches and student-athletes from the 1970's and 1980's.

Courtesy: Fresno St. Athletics