OCEANSIDE, Calif. – Following a second half that featured 10 ties and nine lead changes, the Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team prevailed 77-72 over Cal State Dominguez Hills in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play on Thursday night at MiraCosta College.

The Cougars shot a blistering 71.4-percent (20-of-28) in the second stanza and finished the game on a 6-0 run to improve to 12-7 overall and 9-4 in CCAA play. The win moves CSUSM into a tie for third place in the conference standings along with Cal Poly Pomona.

CSUDH drops to 10-13 overall and 4-11 in CCAA competition.

After Ivan Dooley's old-fashioned 3-point play put CSUDH ahead 72-71, Declan Daly found Akachi Okugo on a back-cut for a left-handed layup that put the Cougars ahead with 1:13 remaining.

Dooley came back on the other end and attempted a right-hand floater, but Daly altered the shot at the rim and caused the shot to miss. He corralled the rebound and played an outlet pass that let the Cougars roll some time off the clock. Darnell Taylor tossed it to Taran Brown on the right block, who popped from 15-feet and drained the jumper to push the lead to three with 32 seconds left.

CSUDH called timeout to set up a play for a quick basket or a game-tying three, but Vincent Golson tossed the ball out of bounds while trying to locate Dooley in the left corner.

Stuck in the corner near his own basket, Brown broke the press off the inbound by throwing a cross-court pass to Taylor. Taylor then put an exclamation point on the win with a fast-break layup that put the Cougars up by five with eight seconds to play.

Taylor led all scorers with 24 points, 18 in the second half on 6-of-7 shooting, while adding a game-high give assists with seven rebounds. Fellow guard Okugo scored 22 points, all in the second half, on 9-of-13 shooting.

Although it was a cold shooting day for Brown, the senior forward contributed a game-high 11 rebounds.

Dooley led the Toros with 22 points and Golson added 21.

The Cougars will face Cal State L.A. on Saturday night at MiraCosta College at 8 p.m.