BAKERSFIELD, Calif.,- Despite only six points from the team's leading scorer, the CSUB Roadrunners leaned heavily on their guard play while leading wire-to-wire in a 64-51 win over Chicago State Thursday night at the Icardo Center.

While center Aly Ahmed (Jr., Alexandria, Egypt, Midland CC) was limited to six points on 3-of-8 shooting, the 'Runners combined for 11-of-20 from three-point range led by a season-high 21 points and five three-pointers from Javonte Maynor (R-Sr., Atlanta, Ga., Georgia State). The Roadrunners used Maynor's hot-hand to establish their offense early, opening the game on a 15-2 run. Maynor had 11 at the half and was 3-of-7 from the outside.

“The mark of a good team is doing what you need to do to win the games,” said head coach Rod Barnes. “They (Chicago State) play zone, they packed it in and doubled Aly on every play so we had to have guys step out and make shots.”

“I thought our guys stepped up, I thought Javonte got us off to a good start.”

The Roadrunners led by as many as 13 in the first half, Chicago State struggled offensively early but managed to convert a pair of three-pointers late in the half and trailed just 28-25 to CSUB at halftime.

That was as close as the game would get however as the Roadrunners opened the second half on an 11-2 run to build a double-digit lead they would never relinquish as they continued to hit clutch jump shots led by Cortez Conners (Jr., St. Louis, MO., St. Louis CC) who scored 11 of his career-high 17 points in the second half while shooting 6-of-11 from the field and 5-of-7 from three-point range in the win.

“I thought Cortez really stepped up and hit some big shots for us,” Barnes said. “Again that's the mark of a team that's really getting better; early on we really would have struggled to keep a lead like that.”

“I thought our defense was solid from the two, we took our chances on them beating us from the perimeter and they had some guys step up and make some shot but I thought it was good effort. I don't think we played our best basketball of the season or the last couple weeks, but those are the games you have to step up and win.”

The Roadrunners were a combined 23-of-46 from the field in the win while Maynor was two-points shy of matching his career-high 23 points set two seasons ago against Sacramento State. CSUB was also efficient on the night, managing to score 23 points off 11 Chicago State turnovers and 12 second-chance points following nine offensive rebounds.

The Cougars were led by Jawad Adekoya who scored 15 points on 5-of-6 from three-point range. Chicago State was 19-of-52 from the field in the loss.

The win for CSUB sets up a second-place battle among WAC Tournament-eligible teams Saturday night when they host Missouri-Kansas City at the Icardo Center. The Kangaroos fell Wednesday night at Seattle 74-56.

Tickets are available at Vallitix.com with tipoff scheduled for 7 P.M. It's also homecoming for the Roadrunners who will be playing their final WAC home game of the season.