ARCATA, Calif. – Capping off a perfect weekend in Northern California, the Cal State San Marcos men’s basketball team (8-7, 7-3 CCAA) took care of business with a 68-63 victory over Cal Poly Humboldt (9-7, 7-3 CCAA) on Saturday night at Lumberjack Arena.
TOP PERFORMERS
Quinn Denker – 21 points | 4 rebounds | 4 assists
Greg Milton III – 18 points | 8 rebounds | 2 assists | 2 steals
Jayce McCain – 11 points | 3 steals | 3 assists
Joel Mensah – 11 rebounds | 9 points
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Cougars began the game up 4-0 with a layup by Mensah and a jumper by McCain.
The Lumberjacks followed with a 12-1 run to go up 12-5 after a Malek Davis jumper with 11:50 left in the half.
CSUSM then went on a 13-2 run of its own as a Mensah layup with 6:59 to go in the period gave the Cougars an 18-14 lead.
A Milton layup with 2:59 left in the half gave the Cougars their largest lead of the period at 27-19.
CSUSM went to the locker room with a slight edge at 29-26.
The Cougars ended the first half shooting 48% (12-of-25) while the Lumberjacks came in at 43.5% (10-of-23).
CSUSM and Humboldt began the second half with six lead changes and three tie scores.
A fast-break layup by Milton finally put the Cougars ahead for good at 39-38 with 14:01 to play.
The Lumberjacks kept their deficit to five points or less until a 3-pointer by McCain with 1:20 left in the game put the Cougars up by eight at 63-55.
CSUSM took its largest lead of the game at 67-57 following a pair of good free throws by Denker with 48 seconds remaining.
Humboldt ended the game on a 6-1 run, but it wasn’t enough to overcome CSUSM’s lead.
The Lumberjacks’ 46.2% (12-of-26) from the field in the second half was slightly better than the Cougars’ 45.2% (14-of-31).
The majority of CSUSM’s 39 second-half points came off the 3-ball as the Cougars went 8-for-13 (61.5%) from beyond the arc.
FAST BREAKS
CSUSM ended the game shooting 46.4% (26-of-56) from the field while Humboldt finished at 44.9% (22-of-49).
Denker’s 21 points were a career high.
CSUSM tallied its second-most rebounds this season with 36 as Humboldt finished with 27.
The Cougars also tallied their second-most steals of the year with 12 as the Lumberjacks tallied nine.
CSUSM’s four blocked shots tied its season high.
The Cougars’ 20 turnovers and 26 fouls were their most in both categories this season.
CSUSM had the lead for 28:29 while Humboldt had it for 8:35.
This was the Cougars’ five straight victory in Arcata dating back to Feb. 15, 2018.
CSUSM is now 7-5 in the all-time series against Humboldt and is 5-2 on the road.
The Cougars’ 68 points were the fewest by the winning team in all 12 meetings.
The win put CSUSM into a three-way tie for second in the CCAA standings with Humboldt and Sonoma State.
UP NEXT
CSUSM will return to The Sports Center to begin a four-game homestand on Thursday as it hosts Cal State East Bay at 7:30 p.m.
