LOS ANGELES – The No. 11/12 Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team (10-0, 6-0 CCAA) tied its best start in program history by earning a 70-61 win on the road at Cal State LA (3-9, 0-6 CCAA) on Sunday.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Greg Milton III – 18 points | 4-of-9 3FG | 4 rebounds | 3 assists
Jayce McCain – 15 points | 6-of-6 FT | 5 assists | 4 rebounds
Tyrone Nesby IV – 11 points | 4 steals | 3 rebounds
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• CSUSM took its largest lead of the half at the 16:43 mark as a 3-pointer by Milton gave the Cougars an 11-4 lead.
• The Golden Eagles slowly chipped away at the Cougars lead before taking their first lead of the game at 23-22 on a 3-pointer by Sean Estes with 7:37 remaining in the half.
• A 3-pointer by Lyle Sutton gave CSUSM a 36-30 lead with 1:27 left in the half, but LA ended the half on a 5-0 run to bring its deficit to 36-35 at the break.
• Milton led the Cougars with 11 points and four rebounds in the first half.
• CSUSM shot 43.8% from the field while holding CSULA to 37.9%.
• The Golden Eagles began the second period on a 9-3 run to take their largest lead of the contest at 44-38 thanks to an Elisha Duplechan bucket in the paint with 16 minutes to go.
• CSUSM battled back to retake the lead at 49-48 as Joel Mensah got a jumper in the paint to go with 12:40 remaining.
• LA took its final lead at the 10:18 mark as Dominic Escobar drained a 3-pointer to put the Golden Eagles up 53-52.
• The Cougars retook the lead for good thanks to an 11-2 run that was capped by a second-chance jumper by Sean Dunn that put CSUSM up 63-55 with 4:37 to go.
• CSUSM took its largest lead of the game at 68-58, putting the game out of reach on a 3-pointer by Milton with 2:58 to play.
• Despite being outshot 45.5%-37% in the second half, CSUSM scored 13 points off LA's 10 turnovers while getting seven points from second-chance buckets.

 
FAST BREAKS

• CSUSM's 10-0 record matches the team's best-ever start as the 2014-15 squad also began the year with 10 consecutive wins in the program's final year of NAIA play.
• This is the first time CSUSM or CSULA has ever swept a season series against each other.
• CSUSM ended the game shooting 42.9% (24-of-56) while LA came in at 41.2% (21-of-51).
• The Cougars used the Golden Eagles' 16 turnovers to their advantage as they scored 19 points off them.
• CSUSM won the steal battle for the ninth time this season at 12-5.
• The Cougars ended the game with just seven turnovers and have tallied single digits in the category in three of the last four games.
• CSUSM's 17 assists tied for the second most in a game this season.
• This was Milton's third consecutive game as the Cougars' leading scorer and fourth time overall. He also led with 18 points in CSUSM's first meeting with CSULA.
• Duplechan led all scorers with 20 points while Adrease Jackson tallied a double-double for the Golden Eagles with 16 rebounds and 10 points.
• CSUSM drained nine 3-pointers for the contest and has now tallied eight or more in eight of their 10 games this season.
• The Cougars spent 29:54 with the lead while LA clocked in at 8:59.

 
UP NEXT
CSUSM will look to earn its best start in program history outright as it returns to The Sports Center on Thursday to face Humboldt State (8-4, 2-4 CCAA) at 7:30 p.m.