Down nine with three minutes to play, the Bulldogs actually take a late lead before succumbing to BSU on two Coby Karl free throws with eight seconds left.
March 12, 2005
Box Score
By SCOTT SONNER
Associated Press Writer
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Jason Ellis scored 25 points and Coby Karl made the
game-winning free throws with 8.7 seconds left Friday night to send Boise State
into the championship of the Western Athletic Conference tournament with an
86-85 win over Fresno State.
Jermaine Blackburn added 22 points and Ellis grabbed 17 rebounds for the
eighth-seeded Broncos (16-17), who outrebounded Fresno 45-30 and led by 10
points with less than 6 minutes left before withstanding a late Bulldogs rally
for an unlikely shot at the WAC tourney title.
Boise State, which knocked off regular season champ Nevada on Thursday
night, will meet second-seeded UTEP (26-7) in Saturday's championship. The
Miners beat Rice 85-77 in Friday's other semifinal.
Ja'Vance Coleman had 26 points for the Bulldogs (16-14), including a pair of
3-pointers in the last 1:28 before missing a final attempt that would have won
the game with 2.5 seconds to play.
Donovan Morris added 16 points and Chris Berry had 15 for Fresno State,
which trailed 49-43 at the half.
"We didn't do a good enough job defensively against them," head coach Ray Lopes said. "Boise State is a solid offensive team. I thought the last three minutes we gave ourselves a chance to win. But defense is how you win championships, and we weren't good enough in that area tonight."
Boise State led by as much as 12 and went ahead 80-70 on Blackburn's
3-pointer with 5:20 left. But Fresno answered with a 15-4 run, taking an 85-84
lead when Kevin Bell stole the ball from Karl and made a layup with 30 seconds
left.
Karl's final two free throws came one night after he was in the same spot on
the free throw line trailing Nevada by one. The son of Denver Nuggets coach
George Karl made the first one Thursday but missed the second before Blackburn
grabbed the ball and put it back in for the 73-72 upset of the 24th ranked Wolf
Pack.
