OCEANSIDE, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team led from start to finish in an 82-70 non-conference victory over Benedictine Mesa on Monday night at MiraCosta College.
The Cougars outrebounded the Redhawks, 43-20, and used 14 offensive rebounds to produce 19 second-chance points. CSUSM used their size to exploit the play near the basket, taking advantage of a Benedictine roster that featured just one player over 6'4''.
CSUSM has won five straight games and improves to 9-5 overall. Benedictine falls to 8-14 overall.
Taran Brown paced the Cougars with 17 points,
Tanner Waldrip added 14, and
Darnell Taylor and
Declan Daly contributed 10 apiece. Daly added 12 rebounds and four blocks. Brown was right behind him with three blocks of his own.
The Cougars shot 49.2-percent from the field (30-of-61), their highest clip so far in 2016.
Benedictine's Richard Thorton V led all scorers with 21 points after making half of his 16 shots. Troy Conley added 13.
CSUSM led by as many as 21 with 8:09 remaining, but Benedictine was able to pull back within 10 with 4:01 left on Conley's 3-pointer. However, the Cougars responded with a 6-1 spurt to push the lead back to 15 at the two-minute mark.
The Cougars continue their six-game home stand on Saturday against Bristol. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m.
