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California State University at Bakersfield Athletics

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De'MonteBuckinghamDD01
David Dennis/All-Star Sports Photography
51
Notre Dame de Namur ND 0-0,0-0 PacWest
103
Winner CSU Bakersfield CSUB 1-0,0-0 WAC
Notre Dame de Namur ND
0-0,0-0 PacWest
51
Final
103
CSU Bakersfield CSUB
1-0,0-0 WAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Notre Dame de Namur ND 26 25 51
CSU Bakersfield CSUB 46 57 103

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

CSUB Makes History in Regular-Season Opener



BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – The Roadrunner men's basketball team pulled away and never looked back in its regular-season opener on Tuesday night. CSU Bakersfield quickly turned a 20-point lead into a 40-point advantage before surging to a 103-51 victory over Notre Dame de Namur in the Icardo Center. The triple-digit point total is CSUB's highest score on opening day in Bakersfield's Division I era.

"I thought our guys followed the game plan and that's probably what I was most pleased with," said Rod Barnes, who began his ninth season at the helm of CSUB's program on Tuesday. "When you've got a big lead, it can turn into sloppy play and not really trying to get better. I thought, regardless of the score, we kept playing in a way we had talked about playing."

For the second-straight contest, including CSUB's exhibition win on Saturday, redshirt junior Taze Moore paced the `Runner offense. This time around, the guard posted a career-high 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting to go with five steals.

Making their official `Runner debuts, redshirt junior De'Monte Buckingham and junior Shawn Stith made big impacts on the court. Buckingham, who sat out the 2018-19 season per NCAA transfer rules, did not play the final 11 minutes of the game and still nearly had a triple-double with 12 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists. Stith, a junior college transfer from East Oakland, Calif., dominated the paint and went 12-for-13 from the free throw line on his way to tying Moore with 18 points on the night.

CSUB enjoyed well-balanced play up and down the roster with defense at the forefront of the team's mind. The `Runners tallied 16 steals on Tuesday night, just one shy of CSUB's single-game Division I record set last season against San José State. Bakersfield's offense also featured seven different `Runners tally eight points or more against the Argonauts.

NDNU did not let CSUB run away for the first 16 minutes of the game, but the `Runners ramped up the defensive pressured in the final minutes of the first half. The havoc Bakersfield's hands caused for the Argonauts helped fuel a 15-5 run as CSUB earned a 46-26 lead at halftime.

The `Runners continued that momentum into the second half, taking a 61-31 lead just six minutes into the period. It would take just two more minutes for Bakersfield to extend its lead to 40. With Stith having his way in the paint down the stretch, CSUB reached the century mark with 99 seconds remaining before finishing off the game with 103-51 victory.

CSUB (1-0) has another home game this week before hitting the road for the first time in 2019-20. This Saturday, Nov. 9, South Dakota State will come to Bakersfield as part of the Western Athletic Conference-Summit League Challenge, which started last season. After this weekend, the `Runners will find themselves in hostile territory on Wednesday, Nov. 13, taking on Northern Iowa on the road.

Tickets for Saturday's game in the Icardo Center can be purchased at the door or ahead of time at GoRunners.com/tickets. Fans who cannot make it to campus to root for the `Runners in person can follow along at home via the WatchESPN app.

~GoRunners.com~
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