OCEANSIDE, Calif. – The new-look No. 1 Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team took down Bethesda, 99-79, on Saturday night at MiraCosta College.

Taran Brown led the Cougars with 20 points in his season debut, the NAIA's second-leading scorer Blake Nash dished out a school-record 14 assists, and the Cougars remained perfect on their home floor as they improved to 11-1 overall on the season.

Brown was one of two new faces in the CSUSM starting lineup, along with senior forward Tony Freeland, who returned from a knee injury.  Their presence gave the Cougars a new dimension inside, and CSUSM was able to attack and dominate the paint throughout the contest.

"I thought we were a little rusty coming back from break. We've got Tony and Taran in there and it wasn't a thing of beauty, but we did enough things to win the game. Bethesda really played us well," said CSUSM head coach Jim Saia.

Bethesda would lead by as many three in the first half, but CSUSM used an 8-0 run to extend its lead to seven did not look back the rest of the way.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Akachi Okugo and an easy layup from Freeland off a pass from Nash pushed CSUSM's lead to 47-31 with 2:22 left in the half.

A 12-4 run made the Cougar lead 21 early in the second half, and from there, CSUSM had its way with Bethesda.

Nash and Brown connected for alley-oops on consecutive possessions, which brought the crowd to its feet. Brown threw down the first attempt, before double-clutching for a tough layup at the dish that made it 69-43.

"Nash knows he's got some horses in the lineup right now. He could do it himself, but now he's able to do a variety of things. He's a talent all the way around," said Saia.

Bethesda would not get closer than 17 the rest of the way.

Six players finished in double figures for the Cougars and the team out-rebounded the Flames, 46-28. Dayon Boddie was 6-of-7 from the floor and added four steals.

The Flames dropped to 2-11 overall.

"We're trying to find lineups and coach Foster does all the subbing and did a great job getting certain guys in the lineup and trying to give guys as many minutes and keep them as fresh as possible," said Saia.

CSUSM will host Trinity Western on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. at MiraCosta College.