SAN DIEGO – The Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team fell 86-48 to San Diego State in an exhibition on Monday night at sold-out Viejas Arena.

The Cougars were held to just 25.9-percent shooting (15-of-58) and were outscored 46-14 in the paint.

Akachi Okugo converted a game-high five 3-pointers and scored a team-high 15 points, while Ben Dickinson recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds in his first action as a Cougar. Fresno State transfer Darnell Taylor scored 12 points in his CSUSM debut.

Winston Shepard's 22 points, six boards and five assists paced SDSU. San Marcos-native Ben Perez scored 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting for the Aztecs.

"I'm not disappointed at all. I thought our guys competed, that's just too good of a team out there," said CSUSM head coach Jim Saia. "They're too long and lengthy and every time we got to the rim it was blocked. We're experimenting with different lineups, but I thought we had some good moments out there, even if the score didn't indicate it."

SDSU tallied nine blocks on the night.

The Cougars led in the game's early moments after keeping the Aztecs off the board for their first three possessions. Taylor scored the game's first point by going 1-of-2 from the line before Dickinson made it 3-0 with a tough lay-up at the 18:02 mark.

SDSU then held CSUSM scoreless for a 2:39 span and jumped out to an 8-3 lead. The Cougars answered though, and back-to-back 3-pointers from Okugo and Dickinson helped the Cougars take a 9-8 lead with 14:02 left in the half.

It'd be the last time the Cougars would lead. SDSU substitute Angelo Chol scored three straight buckets and the Aztecs put together another shutout run of 4:04 while taking a 24-11 advantage.

The Cougars did close the opening half on a high note, using a 12-7 run over the final four minutes to pull within 44-26 at the break. Okugo hit consecutive 3-pointers before Taylor scored the Cougars' final three buckets of the half.

CSUSM went 9-of-30 (30.0%) in the first stanza and 6-of-28 (21.4%) in the second frame.

SDSU's lead hovered around 20 until a 9-0 spark made it 67-38 at the 7:28 mark. The Aztecs capped the contest off with a 15-3 stretch over the final 5:14.

All 11 SDSU players who saw action scored and had at least one made field goal.

"I think we have a good team. We compete hard, we have a lot of pieces and when we get down to our level, we'll be a hard team to beat. Those guys competed out there and we have to find our team, our niche and that's what we're trying to do right now," said Saia.

The Cougars head to Santa Clarita to take on The Master's College in another exhibition on Saturday afternoon.

Before the game, the Aztecs dedicated the floor of the arena to long-time head coach Steve Fisher, who is entering his 17^th season at the helm of the SDSU program.