MOSCOW, Idaho-- With a shortened bench due to illness and road-weary legs the CSUB Roadrunners played a solid first half of basketball Saturday night against the Idaho Vandals but didn't have enough energy to duplicate that effort in the second half as they fell in Moscow, Idaho 72-44.
CSUB (5-5), trailed by five at the half 31-26 and was beating Idaho on the boards despite shooting just 32% from the field. The Vandals however opened the second half on a 13-2 run to take control of the game. Idaho also benefitted from CSUB missed shots, taking long rebounds the other direction on numerous occasions to hit high-percentage field-goals opportunities while scoring 14 fast-break points and 40 total points in the paint.
CSUB kept it close in the first half with half-court pressure defense that led to five steals and a close game. The Roadrunners however had to change their strategy slightly in the second half when Stephon Carter (Jr., Bakersfield, Calif, Garces HS) came out of the game due to illness. He joined guard Zack Lamb (Jr., Norcross, Ga., Miami-Dade CC) who didn't play due to illness as well leaving the Roadrunners short-handed at the guard position.
“We are not at that spot as a program where we can rely on the 10th or 11th guy on our bench to be productive,” said CSUB head coach Rod Barnes. “We played a pretty good first half, but we just got tired. Not to make excuses but we have been on the road a long time and we need to get these guys some rest.”
The Roadrunners shot 18 of 66 for just 27% on the night, their worst offensive performance of the season. CSUB also struggled from the outside hitting just 2 of 18 for 11% from three-point range, also a season low. The Roadrunners were also held to under 50 points for the first time since February of 2010, when they lost 71-44 at Pacific.
Andre Jackson (Jr., Dallas, Tx., Lee CC), led the Roadrunners with 10 points on 4 of 7 from the field in 13 minutes of play. Robert Hayes (Sr., San Diego, Calif., San Francisco State), added 7 points.
Senior center Kyle Barone led the way for the Vandals with 13 points on 4 of 6 from the field. Guard Landon Tatum added 12 points on 5 of 7 from the field.
The Roadrunners will complete this four-game road trip Monday night as they take on Colorado in Boulder. Tip off is scheduled for 7 P.M. (MST).
~GoRunners.com~
