SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team (4-17, 4-11 CCAA) led wire-to-wire as it completed the season sweep of Cal State East Bay (10-12, 8-8 CCAA) with an 81-67 win on Saturday at The Sports Center.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Will Harris – 16 points | 3 rebounds | 2 assists | 2 steals
Donovan Watkins – 15 points | 3 rebounds | 2 assists | 1 steal
Dexter Stratton – 14 points | 10 rebounds | 1 assist | 1 blocked shot
Keavie Love – 13 points | 3 steals | 2 rebounds | 1 assist
Micah Boone – 8 points | 10 rebounds
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• CSUSM began the game with a 12-4 lead in the first six minutes.
• Still up 12-8, the Cougars' lead soon ballooned to 14 points as Keavie Love made both ends of his free throws to make it 22-8 with 7:45 left in the half.
• After an 8-0 run by the Pioneers brought the Cougars' lead down to six at 22-16, a 7-0 run by CSUSM gave them their largest lead of the first half at 31-16 after a Will Harris 3-pointer with 3:33 to go.
• Donovan Watkins drained a buzzer-beater three to give CSUSM a 38-25 lead at halftime.
• The Cougars shot 37.9% (11-of-29) from the field in the first 20 minutes while holding the Pioneers to 30.8% (8-of-26).
• CSUSM took its largest lead of the game at 23 points as Love drained a second-chance 3-pointer to make it 57-34 with 10:31 remaining.
• East Bay was never able to trim the deficit to less than 11 points as a layup by Jordan Espinoza made it a 65-54 game with 3:22 to go.
• The Pioneers had the edge from the field in the second half at 48.5% (16-of-33) while the Cougars clocked in at 46.7% (14-of-30) while only missing one of their 12 free throws (91.7%).

 
FAST BREAKS

• For the game, CSUSM shot 42.4% (25-of-59) from the field while CSUEB came in at 40.7% (24-of-59). The Cougars also went 23-of-27 (85.2%) from the charity stripe.
• The Cougars had the edge in rebounds (45-29), assists (11-5) and blocks (5-3) while the Pioneers led the way in steals (12-10) while committing fewer turnovers (15-21).
• CSUSM earned 20 second-chance points to CSUEB's three.
• This was CSUSM's first home win of the season.
• Stratton picked up his second double-double of the year.
• This was the first time since 2017-18 that CSUSM has swept CSUEB in the season series and the fourth time overall.
• The Cougars are now 12-6 against the Pioneers in the all-time series and are 8-1 when playing at home.

 
UP NEXT
CSUSM will travel to Cal State San Bernardino (16-9, 9-7 CCAA) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.