WWE fans gettin` ready to rumble - The Collegian

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Collegian
Sports
Fans back east love Fresno State,
despite controversies, Page 8
Fresno State | Serving the campus since 1922
Water forum
on campus
brings out
Fresno residents
By Alex Zimmerman
The Collegian
There’s nothing like a good
debate on a hot topic to stir up
the community. In this case it
is environmentalists versus
the agriculture advocates.
The debate, sponsored by
Fresno State’s political science program and the Political
Science Student Association,
garnered a lot of interest from
local residents as it was open
to the public.
Nearly 700 concerned citizens were in attendance for
the debate, which took place
last Wednesday at the Satellite
Student Union.
Fresno State students from
the mass communication and
journalism department filmed
the debate, which re-aired on
Feb. 9 at 6 p.m.
The debating environmentalists were Tom Birmingham,
the general manager of the
Wastelands Water District,
Kole Upton, for mer chairman of Friant Water Uses
Authority, and Jim Beck, the
general manager of Ker n
County Water Agency.
Debating on the agriculture
side was Michael Jackson,
Lloyd Carter and Bill Jennings.
Bill Jennings is the Chairman
of the California Sportfishing
Protection Alliance. Jackson is
active in the California Water
Network, the Regional Council
of Rural Counties and counsel
to the California Sportfishing
Protection Alliance.
Also active in the California
Water Network and President
of the Califor nia Save Our
Streams Council is Lloyd
Carter.
Efforts to restore the San
Joaquin River, on the Valley
East Side, was a topic debated at the event. Effects of the
decision will affect groundwater recharge, potential loss
of water to agriculture irrigation and return of salmon.
Also, this will propose new
recreational opportunities and
freshwater from the Delta.
The agriculture advocates
debated against the issue of
the Valley West Side. Possible
effects of the Valley West Side
decision may include loss of
jobs, damage to agriculture
and drainage issues.
The last issue of debate was
the Sacramento San Joaquin
River Delta. Potential problems are the fragile levees in
Northern California, and concerns of Northern California
citizens.
The debate also discussed a
proposal to route water from
the Sacramento Delta to the
Central Valley and Southern
California.
February 11, 2009 | Wednesday
collegian.csufresno.edu
Out of harm’s way
Where the ASI Fees Go
’08 - ’09
’09 - ’10
Total fee
calculation $1,392,092.50 $1,365,560.50
Funds to:
Intercollegiate
$290,885.00
$285,341.00
$186,997.50
$183,433.50
$290,885.00
$285,341.00
$623,325.00
$611,445.00
Athletics
Funds to:
The Collegian
Funds to:
Financial Aid
Fee
Revenue
to ASI
ASI budget is still safe from crisis
despite lower enrollments next year
By Kaley Delarosa
The Collegian
Associated Students Inc. (ASI)
has not been affected by the state
budget crisis yet, but said it is
looking to the future and focusing
on student needs during this difficult economic time.
“Because we are a fee based
organization, we don’t really have
to deal with the uncertainty of
the state’s budget,” ASI President
Graham Wahlberg said.
ASI VP of Finance Lauren
Johnson said ASI has not been
affected because it works with a
set revenue and budget.
“We start out with a specific
amount of money and we spend
it,” Johnson said. “ASI is not
dependent on receiving any additional funding.”
Johnson said she is currently
working on putting together ASI’s
budget for the 2009 - 2010 school
year.
ASI’s funding is directly related
to how many students are enrolled
at Fresno State. Each year ASI
receives a portion of every student’s fees.
“We are really looking at the
projections for next year with
the enrollment freezes in mind,”
Johnson said.
Johnson said that ASI will not
receive as much money next year
simply because there will not be
as many students enrolled. “We
will be getting less revenue due to
less enrollment,” she said. “That
will be the most direct way we are
affected because we will receive
significantly less [funding] than
this current year.”
For the 2008 - 2009 school year,
ASI had $623,325 from student fees
to use at its disposal. For the 2009
- 2010 school year, ASI projects it
will have $611,445.
Johnson said that although they
will have less money from student
fees, ASI will supplement its budget with money from reserves.
In preparing the budget for next
year, Johnson said she is keeping
the economy in mind.
See BUDGET, Page 2
Photo Illustration by Bryan Cole / The Collegian
WWE fans gettin’ ready to rumble
Photos by Matt Weir / The Collegian
By Collegian Staff
F
ans lined up early at the Save Mart Center to get into WWE Tuesday.
Tommy Nicolulis and his son Tre, 10, drove from Oakhurst to see their
favorite wrestler Jeff Hardy. “He’s an unbelievable fan,” Nicolulis said about
his son. See more on Page 4.
Page 2
The Collegian • News
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
News Editor, Mathew Gomes • [email protected]
BUDGET: Execs say cuts will
come from internal spending
CONTINUED from page 1
“If we do have to cut spending, it will
be internal and not to the detriment of
the student body,” she said.
Johnson said to do so, she is trying
to minimize overhead costs as much
as possible, but some things, such as
rent, are fixed costs and will always be
there.
One example of how ASI is cutting
costs is that they have started e-mailing senate and finance meeting packets
to save on printing costs. “It is saving
some money and we are doing our part
to help the environment,” Johnson
said.
Any program that is currently funded through ASI will not suffer, but programs seeking ASI funding that have
not received it in the past might. “We
are all adamant to keep programs that
students use and students like, such
as the campus readership program,”
Wahlberg said.
Wahlberg and Johnson said they
expect to see more funding proposals
from campus organizations looking to
supplement traditional funding that
may have been cut because of the economy.
“There are going to be a lot more programs requesting funding than in the
past. We do not anticipate getting rid
of any current programs but the competition for new proposals will be more
competitive,” Wahlberg said.
ASI said that despite the poor economy, its main concern is students.
ASI is working on more programs,
such as the book and lap top rental programs, to alleviate the cost of being a
student.
ASI recently spent roughly $90,000 on
new computers for the lap top rental
program. Those computers will be
available when the new library opens.
ASI is also in talks to help furnish
the library. “If we can use our money
to help the library, then ultimately, we
are helping students,” Johnson said.
Wahlberg said that ASI is working on
a way to help students deal with stress
and lack of sleep by providing a place
on campus where students can go to
relax and sleep.
“We are working on creating a space
that students will feel comfortable in,”
Wahlberg said.
President Welty has announced a
budget summit for Feb. 12 to discuss
proposals and talk about where cuts
should be made.
Wahlberg said ASI has held focus
groups to hear student concerns and
suggestions.
“ASI is making sure that students’
interests are heard,” he said.
Wahlberg said students who have
suggestions or concerns regarding the
budget can voice them through ASI.
“Students do not have a say where a
lot of their fees are spent but they can
be sure that ASI will listen and spend
their fees the way they want them to be
spent,” he said.
“What is important during this time
is that students can look to ASI for
some stability.”
C
COMMENT: The Collegian is a forum for student expression.
http://collegian.csufresno.edu
Opinion
The
Page 3
Collegian
That’s What the People Are Saying
Slogan displayed on London’s buses to promote atheist beliefs
“T
here’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and
enjoy your life.”
—Sign paid by the British Humanist Association
Opinion Editor, Daniela Lopez • [email protected] • Wednesday, February 11, 2009
State budgets vs. Walsh Act CampusSpeak
Caffeine drip
Daniela Lopez
I
n the midst of a national economic struggle, has it become
economy versus safety? Do our
financial woes warrant the lack of
implementing a system that would
keep the public safe from sexual predators?
Seeing budgets slashed, stores closing down and people tightening their
belts everywhere, it is not difficult to
picture our state budget feeling the
same economic pinch.
The situation has almost reached
desperate levels, with Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger announcing
the possibility of cutting 20,000 state
jobs, if the budget is not balanced
soon.
Evidently, right now is definitely not
the time to add more expenses to the
state’s already increasing bills.
The hefty price tag attached to complying with the law’s requirements
is the primary reason why different
parties are arguing for the postponement of the set July deadline, or even
complete elimination, of the Adam
Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act,
a national system for keeping track of
sexual offenders.
However, despite financial constraints, it is not reasonable to completely disregard the implementation
of a federal law that would make
children, as well as other vulnerable
parties, safer from sexual predators. It
is less so, when the option for delaying
the deadline remains.
The Walsh Act would create a
nationalized system to register sex
offenders that would clarify their classification by the gravity of crimes,
have them appear in person up to four
times a year to verify their registered
information, as well as provide an
“D
o our financial
woes warrant the
lack of implementing a
system that would keep
the public safe from
sexual predators?”
updated photograph that would be
placed on a database accessible on
the internet. It would most importantly create uniform databases where
information on the location of convicted offenders could be easily shared
between agencies and state governments.
According to the National Center
for Missing and Exploited Children,
“there are more than 563,000 sex
offenders that are ‘supposed’ to be registered in the United States and at least
100,000 of these offenders are actually
‘missing’ from the system.”
With the Walsh Act in place, whenever a sex offender changes information in their registry, all other locations where the offender is required to
register will be immediately notified,
and in failure to do so, the offender
would be charged with at least a year
of imprisonment.
It is irresponsible to say that our
current state laws work relatively
well, even when facing economic constraints, especially when considering
the benefits of being able to share sex
offenders’ files nationwide.
If the requirements of this law had
already been active, perhaps people
like Gariner Beasley, a sex offender
convicted of raping two women in the
’90s, would not have slipped through
the state’s cracks and would not have
been allowed to work unsupervised
with women at a Los Angeles health
clinic.
Although an overhaul of this government system is not financially
viable with the current economic
situation, the state government would
not be measuring up to their responsibility to protect the public, if measures are not slowly taken to meet the
requirements of the Walsh Act.
Yes, Schwarzenegger and his people
in Sacramento have difficult weeks
ahead dealing with the budget crisis,
but it is still essential to the safety
of many, that an important measure
like the Walsh Act is not placed on the
backburner of the state’s priorities.
How do you feel about Michael
Phelps smoking marijuana?
Rachael
Hamilton
Freshman
Physical Therapy
"I think that it’s not good
for his reputation as an
athlete. I mean, I know
that maybe other celebrities do it, but as an athlete he has to
keep a good reputation. It may affect his
performance."
Rory
Carlberg
Sophomore
Print Journalism
"What it does is eliminates the stereotype
that people who smoke
marijuana are lazy and
can’t be successful. ‘Cause the man broke
the single record for the amount of gold
medals in a single Olympics, which I
think is pretty impressive. And he did it
despite the fact that he might occasionally partake in the use of marijuana."
Kevin
Fillebrown
Senior
Mass Communication
and Journalism
"It’s kind of upsetting
because he’s kind of like
an American hero in a
way. He’s kind of an icon. My personal
opinion is the three-month suspension
that he got... it’s not enough. Marijuana
is against the rules, the Olympic rules,
and he should have his medals stripped."
Dimitri
Karimbakas
Junior
Philosophy
"I’m outraged because
they’re making such
a big deal about it. I
think he works hard, he
swam hard; he swims like seven hours a
day... he won eight gold medals. The guy
wants to relax."
Katie
Farmer
Freshman
Pre-nursing
"Honestly, I think that
it’s his own life and just
because he’s a celebrity doesn’t mean that
we should blow it all out of proportion.
‘Cause how many people actually do
smoke pot and nobody really cares?"
THE
Collegian
The Collegian is a student-run
publication that serves the
Fresno State community
on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays. Views expressed
in The Collegian do not
necessarily reflect the views
of the staff or university.
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Page 4 • Features Editor, Valerie Nevens • [email protected] • Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Word of the Day
Twitterrhea
Too many twitters per hour.
From UrbanDictionary.com
WWE Craze
Fans line up to see favorite
wrestling stars ‘Smackdown’
By Erin O'Brien
The Collegian
Masked fans, oversized championship belts and colorful
signs crowed the entrances of
the Save Mart Center Tuesday
night, in anticipation of the
professional wrestling entertainment WWE Smackdown.
Jordan McIntyre, 20, a student at UCLA drove four hours
with his friend Anthony Guy,
20, a student at Long Beach
State, to see their favorite
wrestlers and proudly wear
their World Heavyweight
Championship belts they purchased on WWE’s online store.
Both men have been watching professional wrestling for
over a decade, but said they
leave the body slamming and
power drives to the professionals.
“We stopped wrestling at
home when we found out that
wrestling is not fun,” Guy
said. “If you break your opponents neck, you get sued.”
Guy said his favorite professional wrestler is Edge, but
not for the usual reasons.
“Everyone gives him a bad
rap,” Guy said. “He’s the
‘Rated R Superstar.’ He gives
dividends every week . Plus
his wife is hot. If you watch
the show, you’d know I was
joking.”
Edge, the 6’5 250 pound wrestler, originally from Toronto,
made his debut in 1998 and
has won eight championships
since. He’s known for his signature move: the spear.
Tre Nicolulis, 10, of
Oakhurst, came to the event
with his dad, Tommy, and said
it’s something he had been
waiting a long time for.
“Wrestling is my favorite,”
Nicolulis said. “I love it when
the wrestlers jump really high
and break their necks. I’m
hoping Jeff Hardy wins. He’s
awesome.”
Jeff Hardy is the 6’1 225
pound wrestler, originally
from Cameron, N.C., and has
been a star in professional
wrestling since 1993. Aside
from wrestling, Hardy’s world
revolves around writing something he calls “emoetry,” and
recording alternative music.
Anthony Luevanos, 8, celebrated his birthday at the Save
Mart Center event and came
with his dad and two nephews,
Joe Luevanos,11, and Jason
Novella, 8. All of the boys
wore wrestling masks and said
they have been fans since they
were young.
Joe Luevanos said that he
likes the wrestling, but he’s
really there to watch the
ladies.
“I like watching Kelly Kelly,”
Luevanos said. “She’s hot. She
makes the wrestling more fun
to watch.”
The event was listed as the
last smackdown and ECU
before the No Way Out match.
T h e h e a d l i n e m at ch w a s
between the WWE Champion
Edge versus Jeff Hardy in a
steel cage match for the WWE
Championship.
Also scheduled to appear
was Mike “The Miz” Mizanan,
who was first introduced to
audiences as one of the seven
strangers on the MTV reality
show “The Real World: Back to
New York.”
Matt Weir / The Collegian
Draped in World Heavyweight Championship belts, Jordan McIntyre, 20, and Anthony Guy, 20, drove from Los
Angeles to see their favorite wrestlers Edge and John Morrison.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Collegian • Features
Features Editor, Valerie Nevens • [email protected]
Page 5
Photo of the Week
C
By Bryan Cole
The Collegian
Complete the grid so that every row, column and
3x3 box contains every digit from 1 to 9 inclusively.
SOLUTION: http://collegian.csufresno.edu
Horoscope
By Linda C. Black
McClatchy Tribune
Aries (March 21-April 19)
If you already have experience, fine-tune your skills.
If you’re still in the “gaining
experience” phase, don’t
complain. Make it look
like you’re enjoying the
process.
Taurus (April 20-May 20)
Take some much-needed
R & R. You’ll get more
accomplished tomorrow,
when you’re in the mood.
Hang out as much as possible with a person you
really like.
Gemini (May 21-June
21) Your home and family
are very important. Make
sure they’re protected from
hunger and cold. That’s
your job, and you can do
it. Focus on the task. Avoid
distraction.
Cancer (June 22-July
22) Don’t worry about the
money; that’ll take care of
itself. Once you figure out
what needs to be done and
how to do it, you’ll get the
best deal you can. It usually works.
Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)
Keep track of the money
that’s coming in and what
it’s coming for. You’ll notice
this isn’t from gambling or
a gift from a rich relative.
It’s from your own smart
work.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
Talking things over can
be a wonderful therapy.
If there are donuts and
coffee, too, your entire
day can go better. Sharing
eases pressure.
Libra (Sept. 23-Oct.
22) You’re pretty darned
resourceful when you need
to be. You have plenty of
supplies. What you need is
motivation. Turn your spare
room into a workshop and
get busy. The motivation
is here.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov.
21) You are definitely
the brains behind this
operation. They have the
structure and energy. All
you have to do is crack
the whip, metaphorically
speaking, of course.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec.
21) Keep track of your
income and outgo. That’s
very important now. Keep
track of the costs of materials and the number of
hours you work. This takes
practice, and perhaps new
habits, but it’ll be worth
the trouble.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan.
19) Push now and you’ll
pop right through. The
Force is with you. It won’t
be as much so tomorrow,
so do not hesitate. If you’re
not sure where to push,
test until you are.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb.
18) Keep asking questions
and snooping around.
Check the want ads and
the Internet. More and
more great bargains are
turning up. You’re in a
good place to find them.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March
20) Let somebody else ask
the questions. Be a mouse
in the corner. The competition doesn’t need to know
you’re the brains behind
the operation.
‘Jambalaya’
The daily crossword
ACROSS
1 Collier’s access
5 “The Man Who __ There”
10 Mineo and Maglie
14 One and the other
15 Snorer’s peril
16 Divisible by two
17 John Cougar Mellencamp
hit
19 U.S. weather grp.
20 Diarist Pepys
21 Hurting the feelings of
23 Large amount
25 Merits
26 Hit by the Psychedelic
Furs
32 Bronco show
33 Urbane
34 Women’s Lib opponent,
perhaps
37 Arabian leader
38 Three-player card game
39 Poet Teasdale
40 Stroke gently
41 Cape Verde capital
42 Not so many
43 Hit by Chris DeBurgh
45 Combination of musical
tones
48 Morays
49 Denials
53 Ancient region in Asia
Minor
57 Landon and others
58 Hit by Sting
60 Artist Mondrian
Edited by Wayne Robert Williams
Tribune Media Services, Inc.
61 Anaheim player
62 Claire and Balin
63 Puts down a lawn
64 Comradely, in London
65 Invites
DOWN
1 Fundamentals
2 Qatar’s capital
3 News bite
4 Maneuvering rocket
5 Intercept unexpectedly
6 Police call letters
7 Winter fall
8 Verne’s captain
9 Prohibited
10 “Where the Wild Things
Are” writer
11 To have: Fr.
12 Singer Rimes
13 Hitches
18 Right-hand page
22 Hawaiian bird
24 Sunk in gloom
26 Private sch.
27 Apple choice
28 Revise a manuscript
29 Nile region
30 Organized march
31 __ got it!
34 Bryn __
35 Manitoba tribe
36 Cowboy’s chum
38 Mineral deposit
39 Human CPUs
41 Some degs.
42 Choice cut
Puzzle by Josiah Breward, Scranton, PA
C
PUZZLE SOLUTION: http://collegian.csufresno.edu
Copyright 2008, All Rights Reserved.
43 Depends on
44 Annually
45 Gambling game
46 Sun: pref.
47 Rubbed out
50 Eve’s mate
51 Olin of “Alias”
52 Certain NCO
54 Chaney and Chaney, Jr.
55 Writer Dinesen
56 Meeting: abbr.
59 Very wide shoe
Page 6 • The Collegian • Wednesday, February 11, 2009
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edition to read the newest
classifieds? Check them out
24/7 online at:
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Click on classifieds.
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The Collegian • Sports
Sports Editors, Logan Hopkins and George Stepanoff Jr. • [email protected]
Page 7
EAST COAST: Late-night TV games build
Bulldogs’ reputation and earn fans’ respect
Joseph Edgecomb / Collegian File Photo
Fans in the Central Valley hear about the negatives in the Fresno State athletic department, but the ’Dogs have a strong reputation in other regions.
CONTINUED from page 8
ed.
“Hey, what does that ‘V’
stand for?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he said.
The Bulldogs won that
game, I liked the ‘V’ and the
stadium was impressive.
Once you hit college,
TLNWCG is different. It’s
something to half-watch at
a bar or a party and maybe
use for conversation with a
girl, like, “You ever been to
Oregon?”
I witnessed the 2005 Fresno
State vs. USC game in this
manner: “Fresno State, huh.
Where’s that?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
“Hey, what does that ‘V’
stand for?,” I asked. And
again the response was: “I
don’t know.”
The ’Dogs lost that one, but
it was the best TLNWCG we’d
ever seen, we liked the ‘V’
and the team was impressive.
And when you’re older
and have kids, TLNWCG is
something to watch while
you fall asleep on the couch.
This is what my Dad did
during the Wisconsin game.
Nonetheless, he was very
impressed by what he saw.
People back east love
TLNWCG. It’s sports’ answer
to Shel Silverstein’s “The
Giving Tree.”
And they think our
Bulldogs are cool.
To the rest of the country,
Fresno State isn’t a turmoilsoaked school with a faltering
athletic department. Sports
fans in other states view it as
a fearless university that is
willing to take risks.
They see that we can play
and beat any big school in
football. They see that we
have the guts to make risky
hires in basketball. They
see that we used to have a
really hot women’s basketball
coach. They see us winning
the national championship in
baseball.
The athletic department
has many woes, but they
don’t carry much weight past
the Sierra Nevada. And once
righted, they will be quickly
forgotten, if they were ever
even known by the rest of the
country.
We here in the Valley
should relax a little, and try
to forgive as well.
Paid Advertisment
’DOGS: Pick
up tenth win
CONTINUED from page 8
of a leader role with such a
young team,” George said.
“With what’s left of the season,
our team will continue to grow,
and I do feel we have a legitimate chance to get hot and win
the WAC Tournament.”
With the exception of New
Mexico State and Hawaii, the
’Dogs have been competitive
in every conference game this
season.
But Cleveland knows how
tough conference wins are to
come by.
“It takes a great amount of
effort, and a lot of things have
to go right in order to win one
conference game let alone
string a couple together in a
tournament,” Cleveland said.
After the game against
Boise State, the fans gave the
Bulldogs a standing ovation,
knowing how big the win was
for the team’s confidence.
“We’ve had a lot more downs
than up’s lately,” Cleveland
said. “We appreciate the crowd
sticking with us through
everything, and will continue
to fight and give the fans what
they deserve: a winning team.
The Bulldogs have seven
remaining conference games
and will look to build of f
the win over the Broncos
Thursday night, when they
travel to play Louisiana Tech.
Louisiana Tech is currently
in eighth place in the WAC.
The game will be televised
on Bulldog Sports Network,
Comcast Channel 13, at 5 p.m.
Sports
The
Collegian
Today in sports history
February 11, 1990
Undisputed heavyweight champ and 42-to1 favorite “Iron” Mike Tyson was knocked
out by James “Buster” Douglas, losing his
title in the first loss of his career.
Sports Editors, Logan Hopkins and George Stepanoff Jr. • [email protected] • Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Page 8
Bulldogs’
problems
don’t travel
back East
MEN’S BASKETBALL
George leads ’Dogs in win
The Upper Upper Deck
Haisten Willis
A
s we all know too
well, Fresno State
athletics is going
through rough times. More
than a bad year, it’s been a bad
decade.
Tarkanian, football hype,
O’Neil, Johnson-Klein, Title
IX, wrestling, firings, football
hype, investigations, milliondollar deficits, embarrassing
APR scores, suspensions,
probation, football hype. The
list goes on and on for the poor
athletics department.
But there is hope, at least a
kind of twisted, half-focused
hope that all these things can
be quickly erased from memory. Because to most of the
country, they aren’t a memory
at all.
I realize, now that I’m here,
that Fresno State is all about
Fresno. Most of the students
here are from the area, and
they always will be.
I’m not. I’m from way back
east, from the great state of
Georgia. I promise, people
back east don’t know about
the infractions. They don’t
know that the football team is
a yearly disappointment. They
don’t even know that the band
sits three miles from the student section.
There is an institution
for East Coast sports fans,
a revered tradition in the
fall, which is known as The
Late-Night West Coast Game
(TLNWCG). When all the
other college football games
are over, and you’ve been
watching football for 12 hours,
but are still searching for
more, there it is, as reliable as
the Central Valley fog. There
will always be that one game
that doesn’t end until almost
2 a.m.
Your position in life
can even be measured by
TLNWCG.
When you’re young, you
watch this game with your
Dad and ask about the mysterious teams: “Why is USC’s
stadium so long? Why are
Oregon’s uniforms so ugly?
Why do they pass on every
down?”
This is how I first heard of
Fresno State. I said to my Dad,
“Fresno State, huh. Where’s
that?”
“I don’t know,” he respondSee EAST COAST, Page 7
Matt Weir / The Collegian
Sarah Gilbert / The Collegian
LEFT: Freshman Paul George had a career-high 29 points and his sixth double-double as a Bulldog. He only missed two shots during the whole game.
RIGHT: Junior transfer Sylvester Seay was cold in the first half, but established a post presence in the second half scoring 19 points in 20 minutes.
Paul George and Sylvester Seay combine for 52 points to push Bulldogs
past second-place Boise State in second conference win of the season
By George Stepanoff Jr.
The Collegian
It has been a tough month
to say the least for the men’s
basketball team, but Monday
night the Bulldogs gave the
fans at the Save Mart Center
something to cheer about.
They snapped a three-game
conference losing streak with
a win over Boise State, 88-82,
to
improve their record to
10-14, 2-7 in the WAC.
The ’Dogs entered the game
against the WAC’s second
place team, coming off their
worst loss of the season last
week to Hawaii, 69-43. In that
game, Fresno State only managed to score 10 points in
the
first half. “We certainly didn’t show up
in the game against Hawaii,”
coach Steve Cleveland said.
“We had no energy, but it was
good to be back home against
a good Boise team and our
offense looked a lot better.”
The Bulldogs came out with
plenty of energy against the
Broncos scoring 11 points
before the first media timeout
at the 16 minute mark, and
more points in the first half,
45, than they scored all game
against Hawaii. Cleveland says he knows
his team is inconsistent right
now, but insists it’s not from
lack of effort.
“Games like the one against
Hawaii are going to happen,
because we‘ve played our
starting lineup 30-40 minutes
a game all season,” Cleveland
said. “The guys are tired, but
give it their all each night.
We’re not deep enough right
now, so the rotation won’t
change.”
The Bulldog’s lack of depth
showed as the Bronco’s bench
outscored Fresno State’s 23-3.
However, it didn’t matter as
freshman Paul George led the
way, scoring a career-high 29
points while
recording his
sixth double-double of the
season.
George had his best allaround performance of the
season with 10 rebounds, four
assists, three steals and two
blocks while shooting 9-of11 from the field, 3-of-4 from
three-point range and made
all eight of his free throws. “It felt good tonight,” said
George. “I hadn’t been shooting it well the last couple
games. But my teammates
found me when I was open and
I let the game come to me.”
The Bulldogs were in control from the opening tip, but
the
Broncos did make a run
late in the first half to cut the
lead to 33-29.
Sylvester Seay added 23
points for the Bulldogs, and
an important three-pointer
as time expired in the first
half to cap off a 12-0 run and
give the ’Dogs a 45-29 halftime
lead. The momentum car ried
over to the second half as
Boise State trailed by as many
as 18 points. The Bronco’s
center Kurt Cunningham tied
his career high scoring 20
points and rallied Boise State
to within four with 31 seconds
remaining.
But it wasn’t any dif-
ferent down the stretch for
the Broncos who couldn’t
stop the Bulldogs all night as
Fresno State shot 52 percent
from the field. Cleveland says everyone
stepped up against Boise
State, but there’s no way they
would have won without the
performances from George
and Seay.
“George and Seay carried
us tonight,” Cleveland said.
“These two guys are the center piece for the future of our
program.”
As for senior Dwight O’Neil
who was not on the bench
Monday night, the team will
soon announce what action
it plans to take in reaction to
reinstating O’Neil or not.
Even though Georg e is
someone who doesn’t particularly take many shots, he
is aware the team needs his
scoring to be successful for
the remainder of the season.
“Ever since the loss of
Dwight, I have assumed more
See ’DOGS, Page 7