SAN JOSE ? For the first 10 minutes of Tuesday night's game at San Jose State, the CSUB men's basketball team looked to be in good form. But a seven?point CSUB lead disappeared amidst early foul trouble and San Jose State used a strong rebounding game to roar back for a 71?56 win at the Events Center.
Bakersfield (7-15 overall) led for most of the early stages, building seven?point leads on three ocassions. But sophomore forward Trent Blakley and senior guard Zack Grasmick -- each of whom scored eight points early -- missed much of the first half with foul trouble.
With the two hot Roadrunners on the bench, the Spartans out?scored the Roadrunners 26?11 over the final nine minutes of the first half to take control.
The 'Runners tried to rally in the second half, but went absolutely frigid from the field. CSUB shot just 25 percent (8-of-32) from the floor in the second half despite numerous open looks.
San Jose, also cooled off a bit in the second half. But the Spartans converted 18 offensive rebounds in the game into 23 second chance points. Fittingly, a DeShawn Wright second-chance jumper just inside of 12 minutes remaining gave the Spartans a 53?43 lead that would not fall into single digits for the duration.
Blakley led CSUB with 13 points while Terrence Johns and Demarcus Hall added 11 apiece despite combining to shoot 9-of-27 from the floor. Chris Oakes led five Spartans in double figures with 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
CSUB will take a week off before playing game?four of its five?game road trip next week at the University of Wyoming.
San Jose State 71, CSU Bakersfield 56
CSU BAKERSFIELD (7-15) -- Blakley-2 13; Johns 4-14 1-2 11; Hall 5-13 1-2 11; Grasmick 3-8 0-0 8; Lee 2-4 2-2 6; Bragg 1-5
0-0 3; Rose 0-1 2-2 2; C. Brown 1-1 0-0 2; R. Brown 0-1 0-0 0; Johnson 0-7 0-0 0. Totals 22-64 7-10 56.
SAN JOSE STATE (10-10) -- Oakes 6-12 3-3 15; Pierce 4-10 0-1 12; Webster 5-10 2-2 12; Hill 4-8 2-2 11; Wright 5-8 0-0 10; Caballero 1-1 4-4 6; Peterson 1-6 0-0 3; Goins 1-3 0-0 2; Holloway 0-0 0-0 0; Thomas 0-0 0-0 0; Olivier 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 27-60 11-12 71.
3-point goals--Cal St. Bakersfield 5-21 (Johns 2-6; Grasmick 2-5; Bragg 1-2; R. Brown 0-1; Johnson 0-5; Blakley 0-2), San Jose State 6-20 (Pierce 4-8; Hill 1-2; Peterson 1-6; Goins 0-2; Olivier 0-1; Wright 0-1). Fouled out--Cal St. Bakersfield-None, San Jose State-Wright. Rebounds--Cal St. Bakersfield 32 (Lee, Johns 5), San Jose State 42 (Oakes, Wright 9). Assists--Cal St. Bakersfield 13 (Grasmick 5), San Jose State 18 (Hill 5). Total fouls--Cal St. Bakersfield 13, San Jose State 13. Technical fouls--Cal St. Bakersfield-None, San Jose State-None. A-1,218.
