Cal State San Marcos Athletics

LACEY, Wash. – The No. 13/18 Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team (0-1) began its 2022-23 season with an 84-72 loss on Friday against RV/NR Saint Martin's (1-0) at Marcus Pavilion.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Greg Milton III – 39 points | 6 rebounds | 16-of-24 FG | 4-of-6 3FG
Zack Perlstein – 12 points | 5-of-7 FG
Joel Mensah – 7 rebounds | 4 points
Jayce McCain – 6 assists | 4 steals | 2 rebounds
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Tied 7-all after a jumper by Perlstein two minutes into the first half, the Saints went on a 14-4 run and took a 21-11 lead with a layup by Shakeem Alcindor with 11:48 to go in the period.
• The Cougars cut the deficit to 23-19 with an 8-2 run capped by a Mensah layup with 9:07 left in the half.
• With just under a minute to play in the first period, Saint Martin's took their largest lead of the half at 43-26 on a fast break layup by Branden Bunn.
• CSUSM went to the locker room trailing 45-32 with Milton leading the game with 16 points.
• The Cougars shot 42.2% (14-of-33) from the field in the first half while the Saints came in at 58.6% (17-of-29).
• Of the Saint's 45 first-half points, 19 came off the bench.
• Perlstein hit a turnaround jumper in the paint for the first basket of the second half to cut the deficit to 45-34, but SMU went on a 7-0 to take its largest lead of the game at 18 points at the 52-34 mark with 17:33 to play.
• With 7:18 to go, the Cougars once again made it a single-digit game at 72-63 on a fast break layup by Lyle Sutton and proceeded to cut the deficit even further with a 3-point basket by Milton to make it 72-66.
• After a layup by Milton cut the Saints' lead to 77-70 with a layup with 4:29 to play, Saint Martin's finished the game on a 7-2 run to take an 84-72 victory.
• Both teams shot 53.6% (15-of-28) from the field in the second half.

 
FAST BREAKS

• Milton's 39-point performance was the second best in program history and topped his own career high of 33 points last year at Cal State San Bernardino.
• Milton's 16 field goals were a single-game record for the Cougars, beating out Ethan Alvaro's 15 against Concordia University Irvine exactly five years ago.
• CSUSM ended the game shooting 47.5% (29-of-61) and was 8-of-21 (38.1%) from three. SMU was 56.1% (32-of-57) from the field and 9-of-25 (36%) from beyond the arc.
• The Saints outrebounded the Cougars 34-24 with Mensah posting a game-high seven boards with four coming on the offensive side.
• The Cougars' defense made the Saints commit 18 turnovers while turning the ball over 11 times themselves.
• This was just the second-ever meeting between CSUSM and SMU with the Cougars winning last year's contest in The Sports Center.

 
UP NEXT
CSUSM will wrap up its first weekend of the season by facing Montana State Billings on Saturday at 10 a.m. at Marcus Pavilion.