ARCATA, Calif. – Leading wire-to-wire, the third-seeded Cal State San Marcos men’s basketball team (20-4) won its first CCAA Tournament Championship with an 85-71 victory over top-seeded Cal State San Bernardino (23-3) at Lumberjack Arena on Saturday night.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Blake Seits (CSUSM) – Tournament MVP
Jayce McCain (CSUSM)
Alex Gil-Fernandez (CSUSM)
Brandon Knapper (CSUSB)
Chris Seeley (CSUDH)
TOP PERFORMERS
Blake Seits – 25 points | 7 rebounds | 2 steals
Jayce McCain – 13 points | 8 assists | 2 steals
Tyrone Nesby IV – 12 points | 3 rebounds
Greg Milton III – 10 points | 7 rebounds
Alex Gil-Fernandez – 8 points | 8 rebounds | 5 assists
HOW IT HAPPENED
CSUSM began the game on a blazing run, up 19-2 with 12:17 remaining in the half.
The Cougars took their largest lead of the game at 26-6 with a Nesby layup at the 9:48 mark.
A 17-4 run by the Coyotes brought their deficit down to single digits at 30-23 after a Richard Laku dunk with 3:37 to play in the half.
CSUSM ended the half with a 43-34 lead after shooting 45.2% (14-of-31) from the field while holding CSUSB to 34.4% (11-of-32)
Seits led all scorers at the half with 17.
The Coyotes began the second half with a 7-2 run in the first two minutes and brought their deficit down to 45-41 after an Eddie Davis layup.
Both teams stayed within 4-8 points until a San Bernardino’s Brandon Knapper made a 3-pointer to bring CSUSM’s lead down to 67-66 with 5:40 to play.
The Cougars rallied with a 16-2 run over the next four minutes to take an 82-69 lead with 1:43 remaining.
Knapper brought CSUSB’s deficit down to 11 with a layup, but it was as close as the Coyotes came to the Cougars’ lead as CSUSM ended the game by making three of its four free throws to win by 14.
CSUSM shot 50% (13-of-26) from the field in the second half while CSUSB came in at 53.8% (14-of-26).
FAST BREAKS
This was CSUSM’s first time competing for a CCAA Tournament Championship after only making it to the quarterfinal round in 2017-18.
This was the Cougars’ fourth win over a ranked team this season and second against a top-five team.
CSUSM had the advantage in rebounds (33-30), assists (14-12) and steals (9-6) while committing fewer turnovers (17-13).
The Cougars ended the game shooting 47.7% (27-of-57) and went 43.8% (7-of-16) from beyond the arc.
Going to the charity stripe a season-high 30 times, CSUSM made the most of it by tallying a season-best 24 made free throws and ended the night at 80%.
The Cougars scored 21 points off the Coyotes’ 17 turnovers.
In all, CSUSM led for a total of 38:26.
The Cougars have won each of their last five games by 11 points or more.
CSUSM has shot 42.9% or better from downtown in its last four games.
McCain’s eight assists tied his season high against Cal State East Bay (Dec. 4).
UP NEXT
CSUSM will be making its first trip to the NCAA Tournament and will find out who its opponent will be in the first round of the NCAA West Regional in tomorrow night’s NCAA Division II Selection Show at 7:30 p.m. (PT) on NCAA.com.
