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

TULSA, Okla. (AP) – Fresno State didn't get a second-half basket for more than 13 minutes, finished with a season-low point total and its fewest field goals of the year.

The 25th-ranked Bulldogs got a victory, though, and that's all that matters at this time of year.

"The nice part about it is, it's a win," coach Jerry Tarkanian said after his team held off Rice 60-52 Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Western Athletic Conference tournament. "It might not be beautiful, but it goes in the left-hand column."

The Bulldogs (25-5) led by as many as 12 in the first half and had an 11-point lead early in the second half, but couldn't shake a Rice team that had played them close during both regular-season meetings.

WAC player of the year Melvin Ely took only three shots and scored a season-low six points, 10 below his average. Chris Jefferies was 1-of-8 from the field, and Tito Maddox was just 2-of-7.

But Demetrius Porter came through, scoring eight of his 21 points in the final three minutes to send Fresno to the tournament semifinals.

"Today I thought Demetrius was the guy who stepped up and made big buckets when we needed them, but that's what a good team does," Tarkanian said. "The same guys aren't going to be able to do it for you every night, and you've got to live with that."

Rice (14-16) got 41 of its points from two players -- Mike Wilks had 21 and Erik Cooper 20 -- but controlled the tempo and stayed close with solid defense.

Rice only shot 35.6 percent (16-of-45) and committed 20 turnovers, but Fresno State hit 40 percent (14-of-35) and had 19 turnovers.

"I really felt like for 40 minutes we did what we needed to do to win," coach Willis Wilson said. "There were just some opportunities we couldn't take advantage of.

"Fresno, you've got to give them credit. Down the stretch, they made free throws and made baskets that really made a difference."

Wilson said a big difference came with 1.8 seconds left in the first half when Wilks was called for charging while scoring on a drive inside. The basket, which would have cut the deficit to nine, was disallowed and the Owls went to halftime down by 12.

"It was huge," Wilson said. "In this type of game, when you play a possession basketball game, every possession counts."

Fresno State's first field goal of the second half didn't come until the 6:39 mark, when Jefferies made his only basket, a 3-pointer in transition to give the Bulldogs a 45-40 lead.

A short time later, Wilks scored four during a run in which the Owls got to within 48-45.

But Porter hit a leaner to give Fresno State a bit of a cushion. He came up big a short time later, converting his three-point play after Rice had gotten to within 51-48 on a 3-pointer by Cooper.

Rice had an early 10-7 lead before turning the ball over on five of six possessions. Fresno State outscored the Owls 11-0 during that time to take the lead for good, 18-10.

The Bulldogs beat Rice 79-74 at home last week, and 69-58 in Houston on Jan. 4.

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