SAN MARCOS, Calif. – Despite multiple challenges for the lead in the second half, the Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team (1-13, 1-7 CCAA) was unable to get over the hump as it fell 77-67 to CCAA-leader (RV) Chico State (13-2, 9-0 CCAA) on Thursday night at The Sports Center.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Keavie Love – 16 points | 2 rebounds | 2 assists
Will Harris – 13 points | 3 rebounds | 1 assists | 1 steal
Kyelin King – 10 points | 4 rebounds
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Wildcats took their biggest lead of the first half at 25-16 on a Miles Daniels layup at the 4:15 mark. 
• The Cougars trailed Chico State 33-25 at halftime after shooting 31% (9-of-29) from the field to the Wildcats' 50% (12-of-24). 
• Twenty of Chico's 33 points in the first half came in the paint.
• Down 35-25 after a Chico jumper by Caden Harris to begin the second half, the Cougars went on a 9-1 run to cut the deficit to 36-34 after a Keavie Love layup with 17:10 to play.
• The Wildcats soon went back up by 10 at 47-37 with an 11-3 run capped by two free throws from Isaiah Kerr with 14:40 to go.
• A steal by Will Harris led to a fastbreak layup by Keavie Love, cutting Chico's lead to 49-44 at the 11:28 mark of the second half. 
• An alley-oop by Austin Nassar to Kyelin King for the dunk made it 54-52 with 8:53 remaining in the game.
• A 7-0 run by Chico capped by a JoJo Murphy layup at 1:30 made it 70-61.
• The Cougars were unable to get the deficit lower than seven the rest of the way as the Wildcats ended with a 10-point victory.
• Despite CSUSM shooting a hot 59.3% (16-of-27) in the second half, Chico was a bit better at 65.2% (15-of-23).

 
FAST BREAKS

• CSUSM ended the game shooting 44.6% (25-of-56) from the field while Chico finished at 57.4% (27-of-47).
• The Cougars shot 80% (12-of-15) from the charity stripe while the Wildcats went 17-of-20 (85%).
• The Wildcats led for the entirety of the game despite consistent challenges to the lead by the Cougars.
• CSUSM won the battle of the boards at 30-22 while coming down with 13 offensive rebounds.
• Chico State outscored CSUSM 21-8 in fastbreak points.
• CSUSM had the edge when scoring in the paint at 38-34 and had nine second-chance points to Chico's four.
• The Wildcats scored 22 points off the Cougars' 14 turnovers while CSUSM scored 12 off Chico's 10 turnovers.
• CSUSM received 21 points from their bench, outpacing Chico's eight bench points.

 
UP NEXT
CSUSM will wrap up its four-game homestand against Cal Poly Humboldt on Saturday at 3 p.m. in The Sports Center.