BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – CSU Bakersfield's men's basketball program enjoyed a competitive 2017-18 season that saw multiple school records fall, both on the court and in the stands as well.
Despite dropping a tightly contested Western Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal match to an experienced Utah Valley team, the Roadrunners are moving forward with a promising future ahead.
CSUB will miss its senior leaders, who leave the program having made a huge impact. Below are some of the highlights from another outstanding season for the `Runners.
Career Records
Two Roadrunner seniors will graduate this spring with their names in the CSUB record book. Point guard Brent Wrapp and center Moataz Aly came to Bakersfield via very different paths, but will both leave as CSUB record holders.
Wrapp, a redshirt senior from Boulder, Colo., came to CSUB as a walk on and earned a place in the starting rotation after sitting out his first year as a redshirt. The past four years, `Runner fans have enjoyed watching Wrapp's pinpoint passes, hustle plays, and leadership on the court.
At the start of the season, CSUB's point guard had accumulated 372 career assists. Wrapp was just under 150 assists away from the school's all-time record, held by `Runner great Kenny Warren (520, 1990-94) for almost 25 years. Saving his best performance for last, Wrapp tallied a career-high 148 assists this season and wound up tied with Warren after posting five assists in his final game as a `Runner.
On the defensive end of the court, senior center Aly only needed two years to rewrite CSUB history. The native of Alexandria, Egypt recorded 53 blocks this season on his way to resetting the school's all-time blocks record.
Much like his teammate Wrapp, Aly's record came down to the final game of the season. The 6-foot-10 center came into the WAC Tournament needing one block to tie the school record (107, Jamal Livingston, 1998-00). Aly broke the record with two first-half blocks and tacked on one more in the second period for good measure, finishing with 109 on his career.
300th Career Victory
The 2017-18 season saw a new milestone for CSU Bakersfield's head coach, Rod Barnes. Completing his seventh season at the helm of the Roadrunners, Barnes has now accumulated over 300 career victories as an NCAA Division I head coach. His 300th win came on Jan. 20, 2018, when the `Runners took an 89-78 victory on the road against WAC foe Chicago State. Barnes is on pace to eclipse 125 wins while leading CSUB men's basketball next season.
The Future Is Bright
The combination of a highly talented recruiting class and injuries to multiple veterans created the opportunity for Coach Barnes to give big minutes to a quartet of freshmen. Guards Jarkel Joiner and Justin Davis and forwards Greg Lee and Justin McCall earned important experience in their first year on the court. The rookies played 32% of CSUB's total minutes this year, the most by a group of `Runner freshmen since CSUB moved to NCAA Division I in 2007-08.
Joiner, who came to CSUB after a standout prep career in Oxford, Miss., made an immediate impact for the `Runners as an explosive weapon on offense. CSUB's top three scorers from this season – redshirt junior Damiyne Durham (12.3 points per game), junior Rickey Holden (10.7 ppg), and Joiner (10.4 ppg) – will all be returning in 2018-19 to lead the `Runners back into action.
Davis was one of CSUB's most consistent players this season and surged through WAC play, averaging ten points and seven rebounds a game against league foes. Lee, a 6-foot-8 stretch forward played in 28 of CSUB's 30 games this year and gained valuable insight in just his first collegiate season. Finally, McCall was right on par with Lee for time played and the forward with a nose for the ball will take this year's lessons learned into next season.
The `Runners are looking forward to another strong signing class in 2018-19. Coach Barnes inked Darius Williams, a 6-foot-8 forward currently competing for Paris Junior College, to a National Letter of Intent in the November early signing period. With more future `Runners to be signed, CSUB also had three underclassmen sitting out this season as redshirts: sophomore Taze Moore and freshmen Darrin Person, Jr. and Cartrell Thompson. With Moore being the shortest of the three at 6-foot-5, the trio will add size, athleticism, and depth to CSUB's squad in 2018-19.
The Roadrunners will miss their three seniors, Brent Wrapp, Moataz Aly, and Shon Briggs, who helped CSUB reach new heights. Wrapp was there two years ago when Bakersfield won its first WAC Tournament and went to the Big Dance for the first time. The whole trio guided CSUB every step of the way as the `Runners went on their historic run to the NIT semifinals last season. While the loss will hurt, it is a bittersweet goodbye as the future of CSUB men's basketball looks bright.
All-Defensive Team
Guarding the paint for the `Runners the past two seasons, Moataz Aly's blocking prowess is well-known around the WAC. At the end of the regular season, the WAC coaches voted Aly as a member of the conference's All-Defensive Team for the second-straight year. The Egyptian center finished the year ranked third in the WAC and 65th in the country with 1.77 blocks per game.
Attendance
For the third-straight season, CSUB enjoyed an increase in attendance at the Icardo Center. The Roadrunners averaged 2,851 fans at their 15 home games. That included another sellout and four home games with more than 3,000 fans in attendance. In total, the `Runners saw 33,547 fans at Icardo Center this season, another new single-season record.
The average attendance increased again, this time by almost 200 fans per game. CSUB also benefited from record-setting tickets sales. Revenue from season tickets more than doubled with an increase of 107% from the 2016-17 season, while overall ticket sales were up by 46%. This growth will help the `Runners as more revenue translates to more scholarships, more facilities improvements, and a better overall experience for all CSUB student-athletes.
Join The Roadrunners
The 2018-19 season looks promising and we hope you will join the Roadrunners in the Icardo Center for an exciting slate of basketball action.
~GoRunners.com~
