Game Highlights

HAYWARD, Calif. -- The No. 22 ranked Cal State East Bay men's basketball team suffered its first home loss of the season on Thursday night as visiting Cal State San Bernardino edged out the Pioneers by a final score of 74-73.

Two days after earning a spot in the national top-25 coaches poll for the first time in the CCAA era, East Bay fell in heartbreaking fashion to drop to 16-4 overall and 11-3 in conference play. It snaps a four-game win streak for the Pioneers, continuing a remarkable trend this season in which each of their four losses have been separated by win streaks of exactly four games.

The Pioneers jumped out to an early advantage, leading by as many as 10 points less than five minutes into the game behind the hot shooting of Nai Carlisle. It was an extremely physical game in the early going, and as a result, it was tightly-officiated with the teams combining for 27 fouls in the first half. East Bay had opportunities to extend its lead, but struggled at the free throw line, allowing the Coyotes to climb back in it before halftime. 

The teams traded the lead back and forth several times early in the second half. Then midway through the period, CSUSB caught fire, scoring on four straight possessions to grab the momentum and take their biggest lead of the night at 69-60 with just over five minutes to play.

However the Pioneers didn't roll over, and as they have done all season, they came up with some huge buckets down the stretch. Trailing by six, Ant Navarrete scored in the paint with 1:14 left, then Juwan Anderson got a tough shot to fall on the next possession, bringing East Bay back within two. The Pioneers then forced a turnover to get the ball back with 22 seconds left, and senior Patrick Marr drew a foul in the post on the other end. 

Marr made one of two free throws to cut CSUEB's deficit to one. They sent the Coyotes to the line with seven seconds left, and CSUSB's Andres Villa missed the front end of the 1-and-1. Carlisle collected the rebound and dribbled up court as the final seconds ticked down. He got trapped by two defenders near the three-point arc and quickly got the ball to Anderson. The senior had just enough time to launch a very long three, but it missed the mark as the buzzer sounded. 

Despite foul trouble for Navarrete and redshirt freshman John Duff, East Bay turned in a strong effort on the boards against the No. 1 ranked rebounding team in the nation. Offensively, San Bernardino shot a scorching 65 percent from the floor in the second half and finished the game at 54 percent. The Pioneers were efficient from the field as well, finishing at 47 percent, but they did themselves no favors at the charity stripe with a season-worst 10-for-22 performance.

Carlisle knocked down four of his first five attempts from three-point range and led all scorers for the night with 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting overall. Anderson added 14 points, while fellow senior Evan Wardlow filled up the box score with 12 points, seven assists, and six boards. 

Navarrete added eight points and six rebounds, and Deiondre Bird scored nine off the bench to notch his second-highest scoring output of the season. 

The Pioneers will look to turn the page quickly, as another tough test awaits them on Saturday afternoon when they welcome in Cal Poly Pomona for a 3 p.m. showdown. East Bay will attempt to even the season series with the Broncos after falling 68-56 when the teams met a few weeks ago in Pomona.