SEASIDE, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team (2-14, 2-8 CCAA) began its four-game road trip with a 71-64 victory at Cal State Monterey Bay (5-11, 2-9 CCAA) on Thursday night at The Kelp Bed.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Dexter Stratton – 20 points | 5 rebounds | 1 steal
Uriah Foster – 14 points | 3 rebounds
Keavie Love – 13 points | 5 assists | 1 rebound
Will Harris – 12 points | 3 assist | 1 rebound
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Tied at 7-all after a Micah Boone jumper at the 14:01 mark of the period, the Otters went on a 7-0 run as a Konner Baroni layup gave them a 14-7 lead with 11:11 to play.
• The Cougars then went on a 12-4 run to take the lead at 19-18 on a Keavie Love free throw with 7:11 to go in the period.
• Monterey Bay began pulling away, go up 35-26 for its largest lead of the half after a Javon Johnson jumper with 1:24 on the clock.
• A quartet of free throws by Love and Dexter Stratton cut the deficit to 36-30 heading into halftime.
• CSUSM shot 44.4% (8-of-18) from the field in the first half while CSUMB clocked in at 53.6% (15-of-28).
• The Cougars were helped by an 11-of-13 (84.6%) free throw performance in the first 20 minutes.
• Out of the break, the Otters once again went up by nine at 39-30 after a second-chance layup and free throw by Jones with 17:28 remaining.
• CSUSM began chipping away at CSUMB's lead at knotted the game at 45-all on a Stratton jumper before an Otter turnover on the next possession led to a Love layup that gave the Cougars a 47-45 lead with 11:54 to go.
• A second-chance layup by Mikey Aikhionbare put CSUSM up 51-47 with 10:18 remaining.
• Monterey Bay retook the lead at 54-53 on a Deng hook shot with 7:23 to go.
• A 7-2 run by CSUSM put them back on top after two Love free throws made it 60-56 with 4:41 left in the game.
• After the Otter went back up 62-60 after a 6-0 run with 3:38 to go, the Cougars put the game away as they went on an 11-0 run thanks to six combined free throws by Love and Stratton, a Will Harris 3-pointer and a Stratton layup.
• CSUSM shot 54.5% (12-of-22) from the field in the second half while making 16-of-17 free throws (94.1%). CSUMB shot just 35.5% (11-of-31) from the field.

 
FAST BREAKS

• The Cougars ended the night shooting 50% (20-of-40) from the field while the Otters finished at 44.1% (26-of-59).
• CSUSM was hot from the charity stripe, making a season-best 27 free throws on a season-high 30 attempts (90%). Their total of 27 tied for the fourth-most in program history and was the most since draining 27 against Cal State San Bernardino on Jan. 28, 2023.
• The Cougars had the edge in rebounds (33-21), assists (12-4) and steal (6-5).
• The Otters committed just seven turnovers to the Cougars' 17. CSUMB scored 23 points off CSUSM's mistakes.
• The game featured 11 lead chances and eight ties.
• CSUMB was on top for 20:17 while CSUSM had the lead for 11:17.
• CSUSM's win snapped the Otters' two-game winning streak against the Cougars and was the first victory in Seaside since Feb. 2, 2023.
• The Cougars are 10-5 in the all-time series against the Otters.

 
UP NEXT
CSUSM will travel to Turlock to face Stanislaus State (8-9, 5-6 CCAA) on Saturday at 3 p.m.