The defense of the Fresno State men’s basketball team has been superb this season, surrendering just 61 points a game.

The question, game in and game out, has been whether the Bulldogs could do enough at the offensive end of the court to prevail.

They did — just barely — to edge Wyoming 58-55 in their Mountain West Conference opener on Wednesday night at the Save Mart Center.

Jermarl Baker Jr. nearly doubled his season average with 20 points for the Bulldogs, who improved to 5-7 overall. The 6-foot-5 guard was 8 of 15 shooting, including 4 for 7 from behind the 3-point arc.

And, his 3-pointer with 1:01 remaining supplied Fresno State with the cushion it needed to prevail.

.@jemarlbakerjr answering prayers #GoDogs | CBSSN pic.twitter.com/e43UyT3DdD

— Fresno State Men’s Basketball (@FresnoStateMBB) December 29, 2022

Hutson Praises Team’s Play

“The execution was really good.  We couldn’t be more proud of out guys,” said Bulldogs coach Justin Hutson. “You know we … made our threes, made our free throws. We did a good job at the end executing what we were doing. Sometimes the ball goes in or it doesn’t, but we still executed well.”

Baker is a graduate transfer who was limited to five games with the Bulldogs last season because of a knee injury. He previously played at Kentucky and Arizona.

Isaih Moore, another graduate transfer, hit 6 of 7 shots to add 13 points from the forward position for Fresno State. He also had nine rebounds.

Noah Reynolds led the Cowboys (5-8) with 16 points, and Hunter Maldonado added 13 points.

Next Up

Fresno State hits the road for a Mountain West matchup at perennial power Utah State (11-2). It is the conference opener for the Aggies.