TURLOCK, Calif. – In a game his team seemed destined to lose, senior guard Dwuan Rice put the Roadrunners on his shoulders, almost single–handedly leading Cal State Bakersfield back from an 18–point second-half deficit to an improbable 59–57 win over Cal State Stanislaus Friday night at Warrior Arena in Turlock.
Rice scored 23 of his game-high 27 points in the second half to help the Roadrunners erase an 18-point deficit. Rice scored CSUB's final 10 points, including a running baseline jumper with 34 seconds left that gave the Roadrunners their first lead since the opening minutes.
“Dwuan came up big the way you expect a senior leader to,” said CSUB Head Coach Keith Brown. “Stanislaus played a great game, but Dwuan simply wouldn't let us lose tonight.”
“I think we have as good an 11 players as any team in the CCAA this season,” said Stanislaus Head Coach Keith Larsen. “But we don't have a Dwuan Rice. That was the difference in this game.”
CSUB (5–6, 4–0 CCAA) hit a season–low 8-of-31 (26 percent) from the field in the first half, following a first half at Utah State last week when it hit just 8-of-29. The abysmal shooting performance, coupled with a high-intensity effort by Stanislaus, effectively shut down the Roadrunner offense for the first half.
The Roadrunners sat at 12 points from the 16:48 mark until a Rice jumper with 4:57 remaining the half finally got things rolling. Still, CSUB trailed by as many as 21 points in the period and by 18, 36–18, at the half.
CSUB began chipping away at the lead early in the second half, but Stanislaus gave ground grudgingly. The Roadrunners finally got the lead to single digits at 41–34 on a Rice three-pointer with 13:40 to play.
But they couldn't get back to even until another Rice three tied the game at 57–57 with 1:27 remaining in regulation. Junior center Rick Robinson then made a big defensive play, blocking a Cameron Quick shot in the lane, to set up Rice's game–winner.
Stanislaus had one final chance to win, but Marcus Martinez's three–pointer at the buzzer was long.
Even with the loss, Stanislaus (7-5, 3-2) is off to its best start as an NCAA Division II program.
CSUB concludes its school–record 12–game road trip Saturday at Chico State.
CS BAKERSFIELD (5–6, 4–0 CCAA): Dwuan Rice 12-21 0-3 27; Randall harding 0-6 0-1 0; Richard Andrews 5-9 1-2 1; Zack Grasmick 4-10 0-0 1; Carl Damus 2-3 0-0 4; Brandon Robinson 0-2 0-0 0; Trent Blakley 1-3 0-0 2; Brandon Nevens 0-0 0-0 0; Demarcus Hall 0-3 0-0 0; Rick Robinson 2-5 0-2 4. TOTALS: 26-62 1-8 59.
CS STANISLAUS (7–5, 3–2 CCAA): Duane Jones 1-4 1-2 3; Rick Cardoso 3-4 2-2 8; Marcus Martinez 4-8 5-7 17; Heath Colvin 3-5 0-0 6; Cameron Quick 3-4 6-8 12; Nic Pederson 1-3 0-0 2; Anthony Zuniga 0-0 2-2 2; Calvin Westbrook 1-3 0-0 2; Dominique Penix 1-6 1-2 3; Kenyata Madison 0-1 0-0 0; Casey Fletcher 0-0 0-0 0; Scott Behrs 1-2 0-0 2. TOTALS: 18-40 17-23 57.
HALFTIME: CSS 36-18. 3-PT. FG: CSUB 6-23 (Rice 3-9, Grasmick 3-9, Andrews 0-1, B. Robinson 0-1, Harding 0-2); CSS 4-19 (Martinez 4-7, Behrs 0-1, Colvin 0-1, Pederson 0-2, Jones 0-3, Pennix 0-5). REBOUNDS: CSUB 30 (R. Robinson 8); CSS 34 (Quick 7). ASSISTS: CSUB 9 (Rice 4); CSS 6 (Colvin 2). TURNOVERS: CSUB 17, CSS 22. BLOCKS: CSUB 2 (Robinson, Harding); CSS 5 (Cardoso 2). STEALS: CSUB 9 (Harding 4); CSS 3 (3 with 1). TECHNICALS: None. FOULED OUT: None. OFFICIALS: Harrison, Silveira, George. ATTN: 877.
