SEASIDE, Calif. – Earning its third consecutive win, the Cal State San Marcos men’s basketball team defeated Alaska Fairbanks 88-75 to close out the Otter Invitational on Saturday afternoon on the campus of Cal State Monterey Bay.
TOP PERFORMERS
Alex Gil-Fernandez – 17 points | 6 rebounds | 4 assists
Marcus Brown – 17 points | 9-of-13 FG
Bryce Sloan – 16 points | 4-of-7 3FG | 6 assists | 4 rebounds | 3 steals
Blake Seits – 14 points | 2 rebounds | 2 assists
Khalil Fuller – 12 points | 10 rebounds
HOW IT HAPPENED •In the first four minutes of the game, the Nanooks built a 10-3 lead over the Cougars thanks in large part to Spencer Sweet’s eight points.
•CSUSM powered its way to an 8-1 run and tied the game at 11 on a jumper by Brown with 13:01 to go.
•The Cougars took their largest lead of the half at 30-23 with 2:12 remaining as Gil-Fernandez got the layup to fall.
•Alaska closed out the half on a 9-0 run to go up 32-30.
•Gil-Fernandez had a team-high 11 points while Fuller had 10 points and six rebounds.
•CSUSM shot 41.2% in the first half while Alaska shot an even 50%.
•The Nanooks’ first-half turnovers kept the game close as they made 13 to the Cougars’ five.
•After a Brown free throw and a layup by Alaska’s Mawich Kachjaani, CSUSM went on a 16-0 run to go up 47-34 with 14:52 remaining.
•The Cougars upped their lead to 20 points at 69-49 with 6:10 remaining as Sloan made a basket in the paint.
•Alaska cut CSUSM’s lead to eight at 83-75 with 29 ticks remaining on a fast break bucket by Shadeed Shabazz.
•In the final 23 seconds, the Cougars put the game away by going 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.
•CSUSM shot 72% (18-of-25) in the second half while shooting 77.8% (7-of-9) from three.
•The Cougars outscored the Nanooks 58-43 for the half.
FAST BREAKS •CSUSM improves to 4-1 overall while Alaska drops to 1-3.
•The Cougars scored 30 points off the Nanooks’ 21 turnovers.
•CSUSM had five players score double figures for the first time this season.
•Fuller tallied his second double-double of the season and ninth as a Cougar.
•CSUSM had the lead for nearly 29.5 minutes.
•The Cougars had 11 second-chance points while holding the Nanooks to none.
•CSUSM held the advantage in rebounds (34-27), assists (15-10) and blocked shots (2-0) while Alaska had the upper hand for steals (10-7).
•This was the very first meeting between the Cougars and Nanooks.
•CSUSM last started 4-1 in 2017-18.
UP NEXT
CSUSM will play the third and final game of its three-game road trip on Thursday when it travels to UC San Diego. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. on ESPN3 from RIMAC Arena. The Cougars will then return to The Sports Center for their Homecoming contest against San Francisco State next Saturday at 4 p.m.
