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California State University at Bakersfield Athletics

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RickeyHoldenDD47
David Dennis/All-Star Sports Photography
66
Winner New Mexico State NMSU 15-3, 3-0 WAC
53
CSU Bakersfield CSUB 7-11, 0-3 WAC
Winner
New Mexico State NMSU
15-3, 3-0 WAC
66
Final
53
CSU Bakersfield CSUB
7-11, 0-3 WAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
New Mexico State NMSU 26 40 66
CSU Bakersfield CSUB 25 28 53

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

`Runners Stumble Against Defending WAC Tournament Champions

BAKERSFIELD, Calif – Tension in the Icardo center was created early on as CSU Bakersfield's men's basketball team and New Mexico State met up for the first time in the 2017-18 season after a disappointing loss in the WAC Tournament Championship game. Despite the Roadrunners having a larger lead time percentage the Aggies were able to come out on top in Bakersfield, defeating the `Runners 66-53.
 
"Well I mean I though our guys came out and played extremely hard," said Rod Barnes head coach of CSUB men's basketball team. "You have to give New Mexico State a lot of credit because they are very talented. I really felt good the way our team competed tonight, just had a tough stretch in the second half where they separated themselves but it was a better performance over the 40 minutes."
 
`Runners open up the ball game in style as senior Moataz Aly to get the game going and score the first shot of the night. `Runners added a 3-pointer to get the first lead of the night going into the first media timeout. CSUB kept a strong defense and held off the Aggies until the final two minutes of the half as NMSU took the lead by one point into halftime, 26-25. Leading the team in the first half were a trio of `Runners with 6 points (Jarkel Joiner, Rickey Holden and Justin Davis). `Runners were 77.7% at the free throw line while Joiner was 4-4 at the line and maintained his almost perfect free throw percentage.
 
The second half would start off slow as the first shot from both sides would not find the net for two in a half minutes into the second half. Fortunately, it would be senior Shon Briggs to get the first two points in the second and then Holden adding five points to give `Runners back the lead at 32-30. However, NMSU tied the game at 33 and then took fire to take its largest lead with 15 points, 53-38 with six minutes left in the second.
 
CSUB started closing in on the Aggies to come as close as 10 points behind in the final minute but Aggies were too far ahead for the `Runners to catch them. New Mexico State left home with a win over Bakersfield, 66-53.
 
Holden led the `Runners with 13 points, 3 rebounds, and had 2 steals while Joiner finished the night with 11 points had 2 assists and 2 steals. CSUB got to the free throw line often, converting on 13-of-17 attempts (.765%), but MNSU knocked down 12-of-15 (.800%) of their own, most of shots coming from the second half, to counter the `Runners. Despite the Aggies outshooting CSUB 45.3% to 36.7% from the field, Bakersfield kept NMSU points per game below average NMSU (77.2ppg).
 
CSUB (7-11, 0-3 WAC) will head out for three road games before returning to the Icardo Center. The `Runners will head to UMKC first on Thursday, Jan. 18, and then head to the windy city to take on Chicago State on Saturday Jan. 20. Tipoff for the first game will be 7 p.m. (CT) while Saturday's match up will begin at 2 p.m. (CT). `Runner fans can watch and follow the action live by finding the links on CSUB's men's basketball schedule page.
 
~GoRunners.com~
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