ANCHORAGE, AK – `Runners freshman
Justin Davis had made two three pointers in his five games played entering the semifinals of the GCI Great Alaska Shootout against Idaho on Friday night. Well, now Davis has three and his third showed the country that the redshirt freshman from San Diego has ice in his veins.
After Idaho's Victor Sanders missed the front end of a one and one, with 11 seconds left and a chance to put Idaho up three with two made free throws, Senior
Shon Briggs got the rebound, went the length of the floor and kicked to Davis in the corner for the game winning three and CSUB would win 64-62.
For a second consecutive game in Anchorage, CSUB and their opponent got off to a slow start. The first media timeout came at the 4:57 mark of the first half and Idaho led the `Runners 5-4.
Moataz Aly had four early points just like the senior did in the first round on Wednesday night. Halfway through the first half, Idaho led CSUB 17-14. Aly had six points and
Rickey Holden had four points and two assists. Idaho would extend their lead to seven with a three pointer by Sanders with 6:04 remaining in the half, but Holden would come right back and answer 15 seconds later to get the Vandals lead back down to four, 27-23.
With 2:55 remaining in the first half, the `Runners took their first lead of the game, 28-27, behind another Holden bucket. But Idaho would finish the first half on a 5-0 run to retake the lead and have a 32-28 lead at the break. Holden had eight points at the half, along with two rebounds and two assists. Senior
Brent Wrapp had three points, 4 boards and three assists for the `Runners at the break. The `Runners shot 36% from the field in the first half, but CSUB's defense is what kept them in the game. The `Runners held Idaho to 39% shooting for the half.
Idaho came out on fire to start the second half and opened the half on a 12-4 run and took a 44-32 lead. But the `Runners went on a quick 5-0 run to cut the Vandals lead to 44-37. And the `Runners would make it a 7-0 run and then a 9-0 run, behind buckets from Davis and Briggs. And then a Wrapp three pointer made it a 12-0 run and the game was tied. Briggs made two free throws and it was a CSUB 14-0 run. Wrapp to Aly made it a 16-0 run. And the `Runners were pulling a page out of the WAC Tournament Champion CSUB volleyball team going on this kind of run. A Briggs free throw made it 17-0.
Idaho scored their 44
th point with 16:31 remaining in the second half and did not score again until there was 7:23 remaining in the game. More than nine minutes without a point, that is called typical CSUB Head Coach
Rod Barnes type of defense!! And by the time Idaho finally scored a point, they trailed 49-47 after the Vandals made three pointer.
The final media timeout came with 3:15 remaining and the `Runners led by seven, 59-52. Back to back buckets by Idaho cut the `Runners lead to two, 61-59 with 91 seconds remaining in the second half and CSUB would call timeout. A Vandals three with 1:04 remaining gave Idaho the lead, 62-61. And that eventually led to the Davis dramatics. The `Runners improve to 4-2 on the year and are now on a three game winning streak.
The `Runners were led by Holden's 15 points, four rebounds and four assists. Aly and Briggs both had 14 points and four rebounds each. Davis finished with nine points and five rebounds, but none bigger than the three the freshman hit with two seconds remaining, the only three pointer he made in the game.
CSUB will play for the last GCI Great Alaska Shootout Championship ever on Sunday against Central Michigan with tipoff scheduled for 8 p.m. Alaska time, 9 p.m. Bakersfield time.
