BAKERSFIELD, Calif.- Sparked by a 23-0 run early in the first half the CSUB Roadrunners closed out the 2014 calendar year with their third straight win, dismantling visiting LaVerne Wednesday afternoon 87-36 at the Icardo Center.

The 'Runners trailed for only a few seconds in the first half before entering the Leopard-crippling run and closing out the final 17 minutes of the first half by outscoring LaVerne 39-9 to lead 43-14 at the half. The 14 points were the fewest allowed by the Roadrunners in a single half in their NCAA Division I history.

“I thought our guys came out and really focused especially early on there,” said head coach Rod Barnes. “I told them that this would be a test of our character coming off the best win in school history (at Cal)…it's a game that you come in and test where you are and I think we're in a good place today I thought we had some guys step up and I really like some things that went on on the court.”

Bakersfield continued the onslaught in the second half led by a defense that forced 24 turnovers and grabbed 14 steals in the game which led to 33 CSUB points. The Roadrunners offense was on point all game long, shooting a season-best 16-of-26 in the second half (61%) and 31-of-57 (54%) from the field in the game. CSUB was also a season-best 9-of-17 from three-point range good for 53%.

CSUB was led by Deshawn Richmond's (Jr., Staten Island, N.Y., Broward CC) 22 points on 8-of-11 from the field. Richmond played 22 minutes off the bench and recorded his second 20-point performance of the season while also knocking down 2-of-3 from three-point range and  recording two assists and a pair of steals. Redshirt senior Adbul Ahmed (London, England, Trinity Valley CC) added 13 points on 5-of-6 from the field while Aly Ahmed (Jr., Alexandria, Egypt, Midland CC) scored 11 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds in the victory.

“I loved out effort, I loved that we continued to play defense and to see 27 assists it shows me that our guys are staying focused on what we need to do,” Barnes said. “Our guys are believing they can win games, believing we can close games and now we're believing we can make shots and once we start doing that this will be a tough team to beat.”

LaVerne was led by Jordan Stokes' seven points. CSUB managed to once again lock down a leading scorer, holding Leopard's leader Hakim Arnold to just six points on 2-of-5 from the field. Arnold entered Wednesday's contest averaging 14 ppg for LaVerne.

Bakersfield has won three straight games for the first time this season and will look to stretch that streak to four games on Saturday when they travel to Greensboro, N.C., to face North Carolina A&T. The Aggies are 2-13 this season and are coming off a loss at South Carolina on Monday.

That game can be heard on Newstalk 1180 and 96.1 FM KERN Saturday at 4 P.M. Pacific.