CARSON, Calif. – The Cal State East Bay men's basketball team closed the first half on a 29-8 run to propel them to a 80-71 victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills on Saturday night, January 21 in the Torodome.
 
With the win, the Pioneers bounced back to finish their two game road trip 1-1, and improve to 12-7 on the season and 5-6 in CCAA play. East Bay led Cal State Dominguez Hills 45-26 at the intermission.
 
CSUEB held the Toros to 29.0 percent shooting from the field and 0-8 from three-point land in the first half on action. The Pioneers would take their biggest lead of 22 points midway through the second half as they shot 50 percent from beyond the three-point arc as a team.
 
The Pioneers shot 58.0 percent from the floor in the first half and 50.9 percent for the contest, while shooting 84.6 percent accuracy from the foul line for the game.
 
Senior forward Micah Dunhour led the Pioneers with a game high 26 points on 9-for-19 shooting in 38 minutes on the floor. He added three rebounds, two assists and a block while going 8-for-9 from the charity stripe.
 
Dunhour has scored in double digits in 17 of the Pioneers 19 games including sox consecutive matches.
 
Senior guard Jalen Richard turned in 25 points and a team high seven rebounds. He chipped in one steal in 32 minutes on 8-for-13 shooting while going 2-for-5 from three-point range. He finished the game going 7-for-9 from the foul line.
 
He has six consecutive games with double figure scoring games.
 
Sophomore point guard Juwan Anderson compiled seven points, a game best three assists and a game high three steals. Anderson finished with three rebounds on 30 minutes on the court.
 
Junior Kyle Frakes racked up five points and a assist on 2-for-2 shooting from the field, including a perfect 1-or-1 from the foul line in nine minutes.
 
Freshman wing Druce Asah scored two points and a assist in 19 minutes of game action.
 
Senior Lamine Mbodj led the East Bay bench with six points and four rebounds on 3-for-5 shooting from the floor on 28 minutes of action.
 
Junior Drew Bender chipped in six points, three rebounds and two steals in 25 minutes.
 
Senior Pierre Carter tallied three points and a rebound on 14 minutes on the court.
 
The Pioneers hot first half shooting night helped secure the victory although they were out rebounded 39-26 and out scored in paint points 40-28. East Bay was able to score 17 points off 12 forced turnovers from the Toros. The teams broke even as they both finished with 15 bench points.
 
Cal State Dominguez Hills tried to salvage their cold first half shooting by shooting 73.9 percent from the field and 60 percent from three-point land while outscoring the Pioneers 45-35 in the second half.
 
Fourth year head coach Gus Argenal was proud of his team ability to bounce back after a tough loss to pick up a much need conference win.
 
"We wanted to bounce back with a strong defensive effort from our struggles at CSULA," Argenal said. "And I feel we played with the right focus and urgency tonight. Coach Becker's team plays hard and executed down the stretch but I was extremely proud of the grit we had on the road. Tonight was a program night."
 
Justin Sadler led the Toros with 18 points and six rebounds. Dharion Tanner added 14 points and three rebounds for Cal State Dominguez Hills.
 
The Pioneers will return to Pioneer Gymnasium for a two game home stand against Humboldt State on Friday, January 27 and against Cal Poly Pomona on Saturday, January 28. Both games are set to tip at 7:30 p.m.