OCEANSIDE, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team withstood a feverish second-half rally by San Diego Christian in a 69-65 victory on Saturday night at MiraCosta College.

The Cougars led by as many as 27 points with 16:23 remaining in the game and held an 18-point advantage with just over six minutes left, but SDCC was able to pull within two points on Mark Eden's jumper with :38 on the clock.

However, Declan Daly was fouled out of a timeout and drained two free throws with 11 seconds left on the clock to make the lead four. Without a timeout, SDCC attempted a 3-pointer to no avail.

The victory improves CSUSM to 3-0 while SDCC drops to 2-1.

"We played good basketball for 30 minutes, but we stopped playing and we can't do that," said CSUSM head coach Jim Saia. "San Diego Christian, you have to give them credit, they made some great shots down the stretch."

Darnell Taylor recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. He added six assists. Daly nearly had a double-double of his own with 11 points and nine rebounds.

SDCC's Trevor English poured in a game-high 20 points.

CSUSM closed the first half on a 19-4 run to take a 40-21 lead into the break.

The Cougars will face 2015 NCAA DII Elite Eight participant Azusa Pacific on Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m. at MiraCosta College.