OCEANSIDE, Calif. – Darnell Taylor's layup with 15 seconds remaining put the Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team ahead before Cougars got a key steal and an easy bucket to secure a 69-66 victory over Cal State Monterey Bay in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play on Saturday night at MiraCosta College.

Two free throws by CSUMB's Ryan Nitz put the Otters ahead with 38 seconds remaining. Taylor came down and tried to get a quick layup, but Julian Decree blocked his attempt. Ben Dickinson came down with the offensive rebound and CSUSM quickly called timeout to set up a play with 27 seconds left.

Out of the timeout, Taylor curled around the right side and banked in a lay-up to make it 68-67.

CSUMB quickly inbounded the ball and Nitz took a jumper that missed long, but it deflected off a Cougar player and out of bounds. After an Otter timeout, Evan Zeller could not connect on an inbounds pass and the ball traveled into the backcourt.

Taylor tracked it down and fed it to Taran Brown, who dunked it home to make it 69-66.

Nitz's attempt at the buzzer from half-court missed off the back of the rim.

The Cougars increase their winning streak to four while improving to 8-5 overall and 6-2 in the CCAA. CSUMB drops to 5-8 overall and 3-4 CCAA.

Taylor led all scorers with 20 points while adding nine rebounds, five assists and four steals. Declan Daly had a double double with 10 points and 10 boards. Brown contributed 17 points.

Nitz and Zeller both scored 17 points for the Otters.

The Cougars move on to face Benedictine on Monday at 5 p.m.