SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - On Thursday evening, a hard-fought battle paid off for the Cal State East Bay men's basketball team, who defeated No. 4 Cal State San Bernardino, 74-71 to remain unbeaten in CCAA play.
The Pioneers started the game on an 8-2 run, capped by a
Tyree Campbell layup with 16:12 left in the half. The Coyotes answered with a 14-7 run, capped by a Sedrick Altman three-pointer with 9:12 left in the half, to take the lead at 16-15. Although CSUSB led by as much as six points in the first half, the Pioneers made a run to lead 32-30 with less than a minute in the first half following a layup from
Daeshawn Eaton. However, a three-pointer from Jalen Flanagan with 21 seconds left in the half put the Coyotes ahead 33-32 heading into the break.
In the second half, the Pioneers started on 12-5 run, capped by a pair of
Chris James free throws, to make the score 44-37 with 16:58 left. They would build to their largest lead of the ballgame at 13, at 68-55, on a
Dimitrios Klonaras jumper with 4:44 left.
But CSUSB would not go down quietly, as they Coyotes went on a 16-4 run, capped by an Evan Guillory layup with 47 seconds left, trimming the Pioneers' lead to one at 72-71. After Klonaras made a layup with 20 seconds left to extend the lead to 74-71, the Coyotes had two chances to tie the game in regulation. CSUSB missed a three-pointer with just seconds left, but on the Pioneers' rebound, traveling was called, providing one more chance for the Coyotes to tie the game with 0.6 seconds remaining. The three-point attempt after the inbound was missed, as the Pioneers finished with the victory, 74-71 on Thursday over No. 4 CSUSB.
- Klonaras had a game-high 18 points to lead the Pioneers, going 7-for-15 from the floor and making four free throws.
- Eaton scored 14 points off the bench in 20 minutes of action.
- Grady Lewis had a team-high nine rebounds for the Pioneers.
- The Pioneers shot 48.3 percent from the floor and CSUSB shot 53.8 percent in field goals.
- With 17 turnovers by the Coyotes, the Pioneers capitalized on the opportunities by scoring 20 points off the turnovers.
- CSUSB had a 36-34 rebounding edge.
- This season, Cal State East Bay is 5-0 in road games.
Cal State East Bay head coach
Bryan Rooney following Thursday's win against a nationally-ranked opponent:
"Super proud of our team for the fight we showed. The guys had an excellent week of practice and we needed everyone's investment tonight to beat one of the best programs in the country.
"We have another big challenge Saturday against Pomona so we will need a similar commitment to preparation.
"One of the many exciting things about this group is how much room we have to get better and we are excited to attack our potential."
Cal State East Bay: 6-2, 3-0 CCAA
No. 4 Cal State San Barnardino: 6-1, 2-1 CCAA
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UP NEXT FOR CAL STATE EAST BAY |
The Pioneers return to action this coming Saturday looking for another win away from Hayward with the final road game of their current CCAA stretch with a matchup at Cal Poly Pomona. Tipoff from Kellogg Gym is set for 3 p.m.
