Nick Ellis

Box Score

CSU Bakersfield CSUB 12-19,6-10 WAC

Grand Canyon GCU 13-17,8-8 WAC

CSU Bakersfield CSUB

12-19,6-10 WAC

Final

Mar. 07, 2020

Grand Canyon GCU

13-17,8-8 WAC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	F
CSU Bakersfield CSUB	27	34	61
Grand Canyon GCU	33	31	64

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | March 07, 2020

Late Surge Comes Short as CSUB Falls to GCU

PHOENIX – On a night where the Roadrunners' shots were not falling, CSU Bakersfield battled to stay in its final regular-season game as members of the Western Athletic Conference. A late three-pointer pulled the `Runners within three points of Grand Canyon, but the Lopes survived the CSUB push and earned a 64-61 victory in front of their home crowd.

"We put ourselves in a position to win tonight," said Rod Barnes, Head Coach of the `Runners. "I'm looking forward to getting to Vegas. Our team is getting more confident…We just have to make sure once we get to Vegas we can shoot the ball better than we did tonight."

With the loss, CSUB (12-19, 6-10 WAC) will be the seventh seed at next week's Hercules Tires WAC Basketball Tournament, presented by TickerSmarter, in Las Vegas. The `Runners lost a tiebreaker against Utah Valley, which gained a "win" (for seeding purposes only) when Chicago State canceled its final games.

CSUB is slated to face off against No. 2 UTRGV in the first round of the tourney, scheduled for Thursday, Mar. 12, at the Orleans Arena. The `Runners and Vaqueros split the season series, but CSUB cruised to a 79-59 victory over UTRGV just last week in the Icardo Center. Bakersfield will look to ride the momentum of that win into a semifinal appearance, where the `Runners would meet either No. 3 Seattle U or No. 6 Utah Valley.

In Saturday's game at GCU Arena, CSUB started the game slowly, shooting just 2-for-10 from the field early on. GCU went on a 12-0 run to gain a 14-4 advantage eight minutes into the game. Bakersfield finally found a rhythm and answered with a 19-6 run, taking a 24-23 lead on a Taze Moore layup. The Lopes finished the half strong, taking a 33-27 advantage to the locker room.

GCU's Carlos Johnson scored 23 points in the first half on 7-of-11 shooting (4-of-6 3FG). Moore led CSUB with eight points while six `Runners scored in the opening period, but Bakersfield shot 34 percent from the field.

The first eight minutes of the second half saw the two teams go back and forth with GCU maintaining a slim lead. The Lopes on an 8-0 run, taking a 52-41 lead with 9:32 left on the clock. CSUB found itself trailing by 10 points with 2:17 remaining, but the `Runners used a 9-2 run, capped by Justin Edler-Davis' clutch three-pointer, to make the score 62-59 with 43 seconds left. A last-second putback form Moore closed the gap to one point with 0.3 seconds to go and GCU hit its free throws to close out the nail-biting, 64-61 victory.

Moore, a native of Southaven, Miss., finished the game with a team-high 15 points to go with five rebounds and a pair of steals. Junior guard Cam Allen chipped in 11 points off the bench while De'Monte Buckingham added eight points and five rebounds and Greg Lee tallied nine points and five rebounds.

On the game, CSUB nearly equaled or bested GCU in most statistical categories with one major exception: three-point shooting. The `Runners wrapped up the night 4-for-23 (.174) from behind the arc while the Lopes hit 8-of-25 (.320) from distance. Bakersfield dominated the paint, 34-16, and the `Runners bench outscored GCU's 28-6 on Saturday night.

~GoRunners.com~

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