BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Strong rebounding and a hot-shooting second half propelled the CSUB men's basketball team to a 71-61 victory over Big Sky Conference contender Montana State Monday night in Rabobank Arena.
Senior forward Trent Blakley (Alta Loma HS) scored in double figures for the 21st consecutive game, finishing with a game-high 20 points. Freshman guard Marcus Hall (Bakersfield Christian HS), making just his second collegiate start, added a season-high 14 points.
Bobby Howard led Montana State (10-8) with 18 points, all in the first half.
With CSUB rebounding well in recent games, and MSU entering the game being out-rebounded by more than five rebounds per game, that area figured to be a critical factor for the Roadrunners. It took CSUB barely 10 minutes to build a double-digit rebounding edge. The Roadrunners finished with a double-digit advantage for the second consecutive game while holding MSU to an opponent season-low 22 boards.
The big rebounding night helped mitigate a cold-shooting first half in which the Roadrunners connected on just 39 percent (10-of-26) from the field. But they caught fire after the break, posting their best half of the season at 53 percent (16-of-30).
CSUB (3-15 overall) led for most of the game, but Montana State erased a 11-point lead midway through the first half to take a 33-29 advantage into intermission. With the game in the balance, early in the second half, a Blakley layup with 15 minutes remaining sparked an 11-2 run that put the Roadrunners ahead 51-43. Montana State never got closer than five points the rest of the way.
Hall turned in the biggest sequence of the game in late in the second half. The Bobcats had cut the CSUB lead to five at 61-56 when Hall drained his third three-pointer of the game with 2:48 remaining to push the lead back to eight points. Marquis Navarre came off a screen looking to answer on the ensuing Bobcat possession, but Hall leaped around the screen to block the three-point attempt. He then corralled the rebound and began the play that ended with Santwon Latunde's (Landover, Md./Cowley County CC) short jumped and a 66-56 lead inside with 1:59 remaining.
CSUB returns to action Saturday when it travels to Orem, Utah for a rematch with Utah Valley University. The Roadrunners took the first meeting, 58-51, in Bakersfield on Nov. 17.
