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California State University at Bakersfield Athletics

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JustinMcCallDD012
David Dennis/All-Star Sports Photography
74
Winner UC Santa Barbara UCSB 10-9,2-4 Big West
62
CSU Bakersfield CSUB 6-12,1-7 Big West
Winner
UC Santa Barbara UCSB
10-9,2-4 Big West
74
Final
62
CSU Bakersfield CSUB
6-12,1-7 Big West
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
UC Santa Barbara UCSB 36 38 74
CSU Bakersfield CSUB 24 38 62

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Late CSUB Surge Not Enough Against UCSB

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Facing off against the Big West Conference's defending Champion UC Santa Barbara, the CSU Bakersfield men's basketball team fell behind and could not overcome a large deficit on Thursday night. The Roadrunners fell to the Gauchos, 74-62, in front of a crowd of over 1,300 at the Icardo Center.

"I want to start by thanking our fans for coming out," said Rod Barnes, Bakersfield's 11th-year Head Coach. "I thought we had a great crowd tonight…Hopefully they will come back on Saturday night and watch us."

The `Runners trailed the Gauchos by 21 points with six minutes to go in the second half, but Barnes' squad fought all the way to the end, cutting its deficit to eight points in the final minutes.

"I just challenged [my team]," Barnes said about finding the spirit to battle. "I told them, 'I need to see who you are. We need to find out right now who is going to move us forward to get us back on track'…Whether we win or not, it's how we play the game down the stretch."

CSUB (6-12, 1-7 Big West) was led by forward Justin McCall who, despite being a career 58-percent free throw shooter, made 12-of-13 from the charity stripe and finished with 20 points on the night. UCSB (10-9, 2-4 Big West) shot 60 percent from the field while the `Runner offense struggled to get going, making just 36 percent of its shots from the floor.

Partway through the first half, UCSB went on an 11-0 run, taking an 18-8 lead over its host. The Gauchos led by as many as 14 points in the period and the `Runners trailed 36-24 at halftime. Cameron Smith led all scorers with eight points at the break and finished with a season-high 14 points on Thursday.

UCSB owned its biggest lead at 60-39, but the `Runners never stopped playing and whittled the deficit all the way down to eight points, 70-62, with just under a minute left on the clock. The Gauchos closed out the 12-point victory on the strength of a solid offensive performance.

CSUB will have one more game in the Icardo Center this weekend before heading back out for a four-game road trip. On Saturday, Feb. 12, the `Runners will welcome CSUN to Bakersfield with tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m. (PT). Tickets are available ahead of time at GoRunners.com/Tickets while fans who cannot attend the game in person can follow along live on ESPN+.

~GoRunners.com~
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