Bulldogs to play in The Basketball Classic championship Thursday night

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- It's not the Final Four or the NIT but the Fresno State basketball team is still in some rare air.

Thanks to a 67-48 win over Southern Utah (23-12), the Bulldogs (22-13) are heading to the championship game of The Basketball Classic.

"After the Mountain West Tournament we all thought it was over," said Bulldogs guard Jordan Campbell. "So this gave us an opportunity to play together and to really show people what we got."

FS held the explosive Thunderbirds to just 16 points in the first half and were again missing Anthony Holland and Junior Ballard to injury. Destin Whitaker stepped in with his first start of the season and the sophomore guard hit 3 three-pointers en route to nine points.

"You also saw a little maturity tonight that was a really good offensive team and our defense - i haven't seen it better in the first half," head coach Justin Hutson said after the win.

But in front of 3,006 fans in the final home game of the season, the leading scorer was again junior forward Orlando Robinson who finished with a game high 20 points. "Every opportunity to play with these guys is great and I'm just going into it with a positive mentality," he said after the game.

FS will now make it's longest road-trip of the season to take on Coastal Carolina (19-13) in Conway, South Carolina. Tipoff is set for Thursday at 4:00 PM and will be broadcast on ESPN+.