DALLAS, Texas ? They say things are bigger in Texas. Saturday afternoon, the SMU men's basketball team took advantage of that maxim en route to a 73-56 win over CSUB at Moody Coliseum.

CSUB (6-16 overall) entered the game with a distinct size disadvantage. The Mustang roster featured six players taller than all but Roadrunner sophomore Cory Brown (Lakeside/El Capitan HS).

As it turned out, Brown played an integral role in the game's outcome, both by playing and by not playing. Led by his solid play on both ends, the 'Runners led for much of the early going, building an 18-13 lead 11 minutes into the first half.

But at that point, the game turned on two key factors. After CSUB built its five-point lead, nine of the next 10 fouls called went against CSUB. With the normally poor free throw shooting Mustangs marching to the line, they nailed 9 of 12 free throws in a 17-2 run that gave them a 30-20 lead.

Just as damaging as the fouls that were called was the foul that wasn't. Trapped in the corner, Brown was hit in the eye by a Mustang defender. He managed to call time out before falling to the ground, though no foul was called.

Official Eddie Jackson came over to CSUB Head Coach Keith Brown and insisted that nobody had touched Brown. But the non foul resulted in Brown missing more than seven minutes of game time in the middle of the SMU run while he was attended to by medical personnel from both teams.

Brown's absence was exacerbated by the flurry of fouls, as post players Santwon Latunde, Jose Lara and Donald Lee each picked up at least two fouls during the SMU run. Things got so desperate that Coach Brown had to play 6-2 guard Terrence Johns at power forward against a Mustang front line with an average height of 6-8.

Trailing by seven at the half, 31-24, CSUB made two quick runs to cut the deficit to two points. They had a chance to cut the lead one more time, but Bryan Emanuel was called for a charge the 'Runner bench strongly disputed after making a fast break layup.

Following that call, SMU needed just 2:33 to finish a 12-2 run that gave them control for the duration at 45-33. CSUB never got closer than eight the rest of the way.

Junior forward Trent Blakley (Alta Loma HS) nailed five three-pointers as part of his game-high 21 points. Brown led all rebounders with a career-high nine boards.

Freshman guard Paul McCoy led four SMU (7-12) players in double figures with 19 points.

CSUB will conclude its three game road trip Tuesday when it plays at Pac-10 foe Stanford. The 'Runners return home to host Seattle University Feb. 16.

SMU 73, CSU Bakersfield 56

CSU BAKERSFIELD (6?17): Blakley 8-16 0-0 21; Latunde 1-5 1-2 3; C. Brown 2-4 1-2 5; Johnson 3-9 2-2 10; Emanuel 3-7 0-0 7; Bragg 1-5 1-2 4; Johns 3-4 0-0 6; Lara 0-0 0-0 0; Lee 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21-51 5-8 56.

SMU (7?12): Faye 3-5 2-2 10; Dia 1-5 2-5 4; Fall 3-3 2-3 8; Williams 4-9 2-2 11; McCoy 6-13 5-5 19; Haynes 0-0 0-0 0; Malone 0-1 0-0 0; Walker 3-8 0-0 7; Nyakundi 5-10 2-2 14; Harp 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 25-54 15-19 73.

HALFTIME: SMU 31-24. 3-PT. FG: CSUB 9-24 (Blakley 5-10, Johnson 2-7, Bragg 1-2, Emanuel 1-4, C. Brown 0-1); SMU 8-20 (Faye 2-3, McCoy 2-4, Nyakundi 2-5, Williams 1-3, Walker 1-5). REBOUNDS: CSUB 26 (C. Brown 9); SMU 38 (Dia, Fall 8). ASSISTS: CSUB 12 (Johnson 6); SMU 12 (3 with 3). TURNOVERS: CSUB 11, SMU 10. BLOCKS: CSUB 1 (C. Brown); SMU 2 (Fall 2). STEALS: CSUB 3 (3 with 1); SMU 4 (4 with 1). TECHNICALS: None. FOULED OUT: None. OFFICIALS: Dixon, Jackson, Malham. ATTN: 2,841.