OREM, Utah ? In a repeat of their first meeting, the CSUB men's basketball team played Utah Valley University tough for one half before the Wolverines pulled away in the second half for a 78?51 victory Saturday night at the McKay Center.
CSUB (8-20 overall) led at the half when the teams met in Bakersfield before Utah Valley (15-14) stormed back for the win. Saturday, Bakersfield trailed by just three at the break and was still withing four points at 36-32 when Utah Valley scored eight unanswered points in little more than a minute to to open a 44-32.
Moments later, the Wolverines used another quick 8-0 spurt to push a 44-38 lead to 52-36, and The Roadrunners never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way.
Terrence Johns and Trent Blakley led a balanced CSUB offense with 12 and 10 points respectively. Defensively, Roadrunner guards Zack Grasmick and Ryan Brown did an outstanding job on Utah Valley ace Ryan Toolson, the leading scorer in NCAA Division I Independent play at 23.7 points per game.
Grasmick and Brown held Toolson to 15 points, and most of them scored with one of the CSUB defenders right in his face. But the Roadrunners had no answer for UVU big man Jordan Brady, who posted a 19-point, 17-rebound double-double. Jordan scored 12 points with nine boards in the season half to help UVU pull away.
CSUB returns home to host Big West Conference leader Cal State Fullerton in the Roadrunner season finale Tuesday night at Rabobank Arena.
Utah Valley University 78, CSU Bakersfield 51
CSU BAKERSFIELD (8?20): Blakley 5-10 0-0 10; Robinson 4-7 0-0 8; Bragg 2-6 0-0 4; Johns 3-8 4-8 6; Grasmick 0-3 0-0 0; Johnson 0-3 0-0 0; Rose 1-1 0-0 2; R. Brown 0-2 0-0 0; Hall 3-4 3-6 9; C. Brown 2-2 2-2 6; Lee 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 20-47 9-16 51.
UTAH VALLEY (15?14): Troyer 5-14 0-0 13; Brady 7-8 5-5 19; Ravenberg 2-2 0-0 4; Toolson 6-15 2-2 15; Olsen 4-8 3-4 13; Jinna 3-5 0-0 7; Woods 1-1 1-2 3; Swarbrick 1-2 1-2 3; Komenda 0-0 0-0 0; Anderson 0-0 1-2 1; Rinehart 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 29-55 13-17 78.
HALFTIME: UVU 32-29. 3-PT. FG: CSUB 2-13 (Johns 2-3, R. Brown 0-2, Johnson 0-2, Blakley 0-3, Grasmick 0-3); UVU 7-17 (Troyer 3-7, Olsen 2-4, Jinna 1-2, Toolson 1-4). REBOUNDS: CSUB 27 (Robinson, Johns 6); UVU 33 (Brady 17). ASSISTS: CSUB 9 (Johnson 3); UVU Olsen 5). TURNOVERS: CSUB 11, UVU 7. BLOCKS: CSUB 0; UVU 2 (Toolson, Olsen). STEALS: CSUB 5 (5 with 1); UVU 3 (3 with 1). TECHNICALS: None. FOULED OUT: None. OFFICIALS: Nielsen, Gibson . ATTN: 2,254.
