BOX SCORE
NEW ORLEANS – Jakevion Buckley had another double-double, but the Fresno State Bulldogs (5-2, 0-0 Mountain West) used a career night from Jake Heidbreder to knock off the University of New Orleans Privateers (2-3, 0-0 Southland) 85-76 at the Save Mart Center on Friday night.
Buckley finished with a season-high 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting. He also led the Privateers with a career-high 14 rebounds. Friday's game marked the second double-double of his career and his second in the past three games. Buckley joins Texas A&M–Corpus Christi's Sheldon Williams as the only Southland student-athletes with two double-doubles this season.
MJ Thomas had another solid outing since returning to the starting lineup three games ago. The sophomore finished with 16 points and eight rebounds.
TJ Cope earned the first start of his career and recorded a career-high nine points on 4-of-8 shooting in 26 minutes. Cope got off to a hot start, scoring the first six UNO points of the game.
Trailing by 11 with 5:22 left in the first half, free throws from Buckley and
Kedrick Osby along with layups from Buckley and Thomas quickly cut the deficit to three with 2:50 remaining. The Privateers held the Bulldogs without a field goal for the final six minutes of the half and trailed by four at the break.
Heidbreder scored a career-high 33 points and made 11 of his 13 field-goal attempts, including 4-of-6 from beyond the arc and 7-of-8 at the free-throw line. Any time UNO clawed back into the game, the redshirt senior seemed to answer.
Thomas made 1-of-2 at the line with just over three minutes left to play, cutting the Bulldogs' lead to four before Heidbreder responded on the other end with a second-chance layup. Jake made five straight free throws down the stretch as the Bulldogs pulled away for the win.
Like Buckley, Bulldog guard Zaon Collins finished with a double-double -14 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Fresno State outshot UNO 47% to 43%, and the teams tied on the glass at 36 rebounds apiece. Both teams finished with six steals.
UP NEXT
After a quick stop back in New Orleans the Privateers head to Starkville, Miss to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Monday night. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. with coverage available on SEC Network+, ESPN+ and 106.1 Heaven FM.
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