SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos men’s basketball team (6-6, 5-2 CCAA) saw its four-game winning streak come to an end as it fell 74-65 at No. 12/7 Cal State San Bernardino (9-1, 4-0 CCAA) on Thursday night at The Den.
TOP PERFORMERS
Greg Milton III – 26 points | 9 points
Quinn Denker – 15 points | 5 rebounds | 5 assists | 2 steals
Jayce McCain – 11 points | 5 assists | 3 rebounds | 2 steals
HOW IT HAPPENED
After CSUSB began the game with a 4-0 lead, CSUSM scored five straight to take its first lead of the night at 5-4 with 16:17 to play in the half.
After a 3-pointer by Milton put the Cougars up 11-8 with 14:44 to go in the period, the Coyotes went on a 11-0 run to go up 19-11 after a Robby Robinson layup with 11:07 left.
From that point forward, CSUSB led the rest of the half and took its largest lead at 38-22 with 52 seconds remaining in the period.
CSUSM trailed CSUSB 38-24 after 20 minutes of play.
The Cougars shot just 29.2 (7-of-24) in the first half while the Coyotes came in at 46.7% (14-of-30).
CSUSB took its largest lead of the game at the 14:48 mark of the second half as Brandon Knapper gave the Coyotes a 19-point lead at 52-33.
The Cougars roared back to life with a 14-2 run that was capped by a Denker jumper with 9:37 to go and made it 54-47.
Six unanswered points allowed the Coyotes to jump back out to a 13-points lead at 60-47 with 8:09 to go.
CSUSM responded by cutting the deficit to five at 62-57 as Milton made two free throws as part of an 10-2 Cougar run with 6:03 to play.
That was as close as the Cougars came to the Coyotes’ lead as CSUSB soon went back up by 12 with an Elijah Hardy jumper to make it 72-60 at the 3:05 mark.
Milton scored the game’s final basket with a 3-pointer to cut the Cougars’ deficit to single digits with one second remaining at 74-65.
CSUSM outscored CSUSB in the second half at 41-36 and had a better shooting performance at 48.3% (14-of-29) to 43.3% (13-of-30).
FAST BREAKS
The Cougars ended the game shooting 39.6% (21-of-53) from the field while the Coyotes clocked in at 45% (27-of-60).
CSUSM held CSUSB to its second-fewest points scored this season.
Just 12 of CSUSM’s 65 points came in the paint while CSUSB had 34.
The Cougars scored 21 points off the Coyotes’ 19 turnovers.
Milton led all scorers with 26 points – his second-best scoring performance of the season and fifth game with 20-plus points.
Milton’s six made 3-pointers were the most by a Cougar this season and were a career high.
CSUSM’s 12 steals were its second most of the season, but it committed a season-high 15 turnovers.
CSUSB heavily outrebounded the CSUSM by a 46-24 margin.
The Cougars are still winless when playing the Coyotes in San Bernardino at 0-5.
UP NEXT
CSUSM will wrap up the weekend by heading to Cal Poly Pomona for 3 p.m. tipoff on Saturday at Kellogg Arena.
