Rice Rice/Fresno State Fresno St Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) – Demetrius Porter scored 24 points to lead Fresno State (No. 25 ESPN/USA Today) to its first-ever Western Athletic Conference regular season title after defeating Rice 79-74 on Thursday night.

Fresno State (23-5, 12-3) led by 15 points with just less than six minutes left but had to hold off a late barrage of 3-pointers by Rice (13-14, 5-10) for the win.

Melvin Ely added 17 for Fresno State, which won its first regular season championship since the Bulldogs won the Pacific Coast Athletic Association in 1980-81.

Mike Wilks led Rice with 26 points and Shawn Tyndall added 16, including two key 3-pointers in the final 2:24.

Chris Jefferies finished with 14 for Fresno State and Shannon Swillis and Tito Maddox each had 10.

Rice hit five 3-pointers in the final three minutes to get as close as 77-74 with nine seconds left. But Fresno State hit 9-of-10 free throws down the stretch to ice the game.

Fresno State's smothering zone defense shut down the Owls and Ely scored nine-straight points in a 12-0 run that gave the Bulldogs' a 47-35 lead with just over 12 minutes remaining.

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