SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. ? For the second consecutive game, the CSUB men's basketball team completed a season?sweep of an opponent. Wednesday night, the Roadrunners played a strong second half to upend former CCAA rival Cal Poly for the second time in this season in a 57-52 win at Mott Gym.
Senior guard Terrence Johns (Chicago/Bakersfield College) led a prolific outside attack for CSUB, scoring 12 of his game-high 18 points from beyond the arc. Led by Johns, CSUB knocked down 10 three-pointers, contrasted by a 1-for-14 effort from long range by Cal Poly.
That helped offset a big interior edge for the Mustangs. Cal Poly out-scored CSUB 34-10 in the paint.
Cal Poly pulled away late in the first half, finishing the period with a 7-0 run to take a 34-28 lead into the break. The Roadrunners chipped away, but couldn't get over the hump until Johns finished a nice pass from Santwon Latunde (Landover, Md./Cowley County CC) to put CSUB on top, 42-41, midway through the half.
A Titus Shelton layup briefly restored Cal Poly's lead. But Trent Blakley (Alta Loma HS) made a free throw and Donavan Bragg (Inglewood/Serra HS) made a layup in a 10-2 run that gave CSUB a 51-44 lead it would not relinquish.
“It was a great comeback,” said CSUB Head Coach Keith Brown. “The guys played competitively and fought through some things in the second half. A big key was that we did a much better job on the defensive boards in the second half and limited them to just one shot per possession.”
Thanks in large part to that defensive work, CSUB held Cal Poly to just 18 second-half points, the lowest total ever by a Roadrunner NCAA Division I opponent. It beat the previous low of 24 by UC Riverside last season.
CSUB will look to close the 2009 season with its third consecutive win when it hosts defending Big West Conference champion Cal State Fullerton Mar. 3 at Rabobank Arena.
CSU Bakersfield 57, Cal Poly 52
CSU BAKERSFIELD (8?20): Blakley 4-13 1-2 11; Latunde 1-6 4-6 6; C. Brown 1-3 0-2 2; Johnson 3-10 0-0 9; Emanuel 1-3 0-0 3; Machado 0-1 0-0 0; Bragg 3-6 2-2 8; Johns 7-11 0-3 18; Lee 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 20-54 7-15 57.
CAL POLY (7?18): Shelton 4-9 2-3 10; Manley 1-1 0-0 2; Thomas 6-145 1-2 13; Keeler 2-9 0-0 5; Lewis 5-11 0-4 10; Brown 0-0 0-0 0; Anderson 0-1 2-2 2; Dipprey 2-3 0-0 4; Hanson 3-7 0-0 6. TOTALS: 23-55 5-11 52.
HALFTIME: CP 34-28. 3-PT. FG: CSUB 10-28 (Johns 4-7, Johnson 3-7, Blakley 2-8, Emanuel 1-3, Machado 0-1, Bragg 0-2); CP 1-14 (Keeler 1-5, Hanson 0-2, Lewis 0-2, Thomas 0-5). REBOUNDS: CSUB 34 (Latunde 9); CP 40 (Dipprey 11). ASSISTS: CSUB 12 (Bragg 5); CP 10 (Thomas, Keeler 3). TURNOVERS: CSUB 9, CP 10. BLOCKS: CSUB 2 (C. Brown, Johns); CP 3 (Shelton 2). STEALS: CSUB 5 (Johns 2); CP 3 (Thomas 2). TECHNICALS: None. FOULED OUT: None. OFFICIALS: Stupin, Tackett, Kollen. ATTN: 631.
