ARCATA, Calif. – The No. 14/17 Cal State San Marcos men’s basketball team (18-4) earned its first-ever CCAA Tournament win as the third-seeded Cougars eliminated sixth-seeded Cal Poly Pomona (13-9) by a score of 76-65 in the quarterfinals at Lumberjack Arena on Thursday night.
TOP PERFORMERS
Blake Seits – 21 points | 5-of-8 3FG | 4 assists
Jayce McCain – 16 points | 6 assists | 2 steals
Greg Milton III – 13 points | 5 rebounds | 4 assists
Alex Gil-Fernandez – 8 points | 6 rebounds
HOW IT HAPPENED
CSUSM stormed out of the gate with an early 10-2 lead after Seits made his second 3-pointer of the game with 16:49 left in the first half.
The Broncos went on an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to 12-10 after a 3-pointer by BJ Standley with 15:03 to go.
The Cougars took their first double-digit lead at 26-15 as McCain got a jumper in the paint to go with 10:42 remaining in the first half.
CSUSM’s largest lead of the game with just over seven minutes to go in the first half as Donovan Watkins drained a 3-pointer to make it 35-23.
The Cougars closed out the first 20 minutes with a 42-35 lead over the Broncos behind Seits’ game-leading 14 points.
CSUSM shot 54.8% (17-of-31) for the half with assists on 14 of its 17 field goals. The Cougars were also 7-of-13 (53.8%) from beyond the arc.
The Broncos gave the Cougars a run to begin the second half and took their first lead at 53-51 on a Standley layup with 9:57 to play.
Both sides traded the lead for the next four minutes until CSUSM took the lead for good on a Sean Dunn layup at 63-61 with just over five minutes to go.
Milton III put up the final two points of the game on a pair of made free throw to five CSUSM a 76-65 lead with 37 seconds remaining.
Both CSUSM and CPP shot 48.1% (13-of-27) from the field in the second half.
FAST BREAKS
This was CSUSM’s first-ever CCAA Tournament win in its second appearance – both times as the No. 3 seed.
Seits ended the night one point shy of tying the CSUSM career scoring record of 732 set by Jacob Ranger (2011-13). He also finished two 3-pointers shy of tying Tyson Kygar’s (2014-15, 2016-17) career record of 140.
CSUSM’s 22 assists as a team were its most this season. The Cougars’ previous best was 20 against San Francisco State on Dec. 11.
This was the Cougars’ third consecutive game shooting 50% or better from the field as they ended the night shooting 51.7% (30-of-58).
This was CSUSM’s second straight win over CPP after previously beating them 62-52 in overtime at Pomona on Jan. 20.
CSUSM ended the game with 11 made 3-pointers and has tallied 10 or more in six games this season. The Cougars put up 10 in the final game of the regular season at Cal Poly Humboldt.
The Cougars took their second-fewest free throw attempts of the season with only five while making them all.
CSUSM’s five steals were its second fewest of the season. The Cougars ended the night with a 5-4 advantage and have tallied more steals than their opponents in all but one game this season.
Prior to the game, Seits was honored with the Elite 13 Award, which is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the final CCAA championship site in each conference-sponsored sport.
UP NEXT
CSUSM will face No. 11/10 Chico State for the third time this season in the semifinals of the CCAA Tournament on Friday. Tipoff between the third-seeded Cougars and the second-seeded Wildcats is set for 5:30 p.m. at Lumberjack Arena.
