LARAMIE, Wyo. ? Playing their first?ever game in the heart of Cowboy country, the CSUB men's basketball team could have used Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley. The shooters the Roadrunners did bring hit a season?low 27.6 percent from the field in a 78?53 loss to the University of Wyoming Wednesday night in Laramie.
CSUB (7?16 overall) shot just 27 percent in the first half while the normally tepid shooting Cowboys shot 59 percent from the floor and 46 percent from three?point range. Wyoming entered the game shooting 46 percent from the floor and 31 percent from beyond the arc.
Things looked ominous for CSUB early when Wyoming nailed three of its first four three?point attempts after going 0-for-15 from long range in their last game. After Trent Blakley and Cory Brown knocked down jumpers on CSUB's first two shots, the Roadrunners missed 13 of their next 14 from the field. That helped Wyoming turn a 10?6 lead into a 22?6 lead midway through the half.
Wyoming played solid defense, but of greater concern for the Roadrunners were their game?long struggles to get into the flow of their offense. Perhaps more telling than their shooting percentage was that they didn't pick up their second assist until Donovan Bragg fed Rob Rose for a three?pointer with nine seconds remaining.
“We certainly struggled scoring throughout the course of the game,” said CSUB Head Coach Keith Brown. “I thought the key to the game was when we made a run to get it within 10 then we took a quick three and gave up a layup in transition. Instead of going into the half down single digits, we're down 15 and that was a big factor.”
After its slow start, CSUB appeared to right the ship late in the first half, using a 10?0 run to trim a 20?point deficit down to 10 at 35?25. With a chance to get even closer, Alex Johnson missed a quick three?point attempt and Wyoming's Brad Jones immediately got behind the defense for a fast break layup that ended CSUB's last chance to get back into the game.
The lone statistical bright spot for CSUB came from senior guard Zack Grasmick, who grabbed a career?high nine rebounds before reaggravating a calf injury late in the game. Blakley and Brown led the Roadrunner scorers with eight points apiece.
Freshman center Mikhail Linskens, who had never scored more than seven points in his collegiate career, poured in a game?high 23 to lead all scorers for Wyoming (9?12). Senior forward Joseph Taylor added 12 rebounders for the Cowboys.
CSUB closes out its five?game, 8,000?mile road trip next week, heading to Edinburgh, Texas to take on fellow NCAA Division I Independent member UT?Pan American.
Wyoming 78, CSU Bakersfield 53
CSU BAKERSFIELD (7?16): Blakley 4-12 0-0 8; Johns 2-5 3-6 7; C. Brown 4-11 0-0 8; Johnson 1-9 0-0 3; Grasmick 3-9 1-1 7; Bragg 1-4 4-4 6; Rose 2-3 0-0 5; R. Brown 0-1 1-4 1; Hall 0-6 6-8 6; Robinson 0-2 2-2 2. TOTALS: 17-62 17-25 41.
WYOMING (9?12): Dermody 2-8 3-3 8; Taylor 2-4 0-2 4; Linskens 10-15 1-5 23; Jones 3-6 2-2 9; Ewing 8-14 1-1 19; Geis 0-0 0-0 0; Johnson 0-0 0-0 0; Platt 5-7 1-2 5; Nelson 0-3 0-0 0; Bunker 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 31-60 8-15 78.
HALFTIME: UW 42-27. 3-PT. FG: CSUB 2-14 (Rose 1-1, Johnson 1-5, C. Brown 0-1, Blakley 0-2, Bragg 0-2, Grasmick 0-3); UW 8-24 (Linskens 2-4, Ewing 2-6, Johnson 1-1, Platt 1-3, Dermody 1-4, Taylor 0-2). REBOUNDS: CSUB 41 (Blakley, Grasmick 9); UW 42 (Taylor 12). ASSISTS: CSUB 2 (Johns, Bragg); UW 20 (Kinskens, Ewing 3). TURNOVERS: CSUB 13, UW 13. BLOCKS: CSUB 2 (C. Brown); UW 9 (Taylor, Nelson 3). STEALS: CSUB 5 (Grasmick 2); UW 5 (Taylor, Platt 2). TECHNICALS: None. FOULED OUT: None. OFFICIALS: Stupin, Giarranto, Dugas. ATTN: 4,788.
