SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The No. 13/NR Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team (0-3) fell 69-60 to Central Washington (1-2) in its home opener at The Sports Center on Thursday night.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Greg Milton III – 16 points | 3 steals | 3 rebounds
Joel Mensah – 10 points | 8 rebounds
Quinn Denker – 10 points | 4 rebounds | 2 assists
Zack Perlstein – 9 points | 5 rebounds | 2 steals
Jayce McCain – 5 assists | 4 points | 3 rebounds | 2 blocks
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Cougars took a quick 10-3 lead into the first media timeout with four Cougars posting points.
• A layup by Chase Bowsher gave the Cougars their largest lead of the game at 15-5 with 11:48 to go in the period.
• The Wildcats answered with a 10-0 run to knot the game at 15-15 at the 7:56 mark.
• A putback by Perlstein broke a 17-all tie at the 5:41 mark of the first half to give CSUSM a 19-17 lead.
• Back-to-back dunks by Matt Poquette gave CWU a 23-20 lead with 1:09 remaining on the clock.  
• A Donovan Watkins layup with 58 seconds on the clock was the last bucket of the first half, cutting CSUSM's deficit to 23-22.
• CSUSM shot 30.3% (10-of-33) from the field and 16.7% from behind the arc (1-of-6) in the first 20 minutes while the Wildcats had a 42.9% (9-of-21) field-goal percentage and 22.2% (2-of-9) 3-point field-goal percentage.
• Perlstein opened the second half with a 3-pointer, sparking a 9-3 run to make it 33-26 CSUSM at the 16:23 mark.
• The Cougars took their largest lead of the second half on a Bowsher layup to go up 47-38 with 11:51 to play.
• Down 49-40 with 11:17 to go, CWU went on a 9-0 run and tied the game at 49-all following a 3-pointer by Colby Gennett with 9:09 to go.
• After swapping the lead five times prior, the Wildcats took the lead for good after a floating jumper by Cameron McNeil put CWU ahead 56-55 with 5:53 to go.
• The Wildcats ended the game on a 13-5 run to take a 69-60 victory over the Cougars.

 
FAST BREAKS

• Missed free throws hindered the Cougars as they went 42.1% (8-of-19) from the charity stripe while the Wildcats went 92.3% (12-of-13) at the line.
• CSUSM outrebounded CWU 32-28 and heavily took advantage with the offensive boards at 14-5
• The Wildcats' bench outscored the Cougars 31-11.
• CWU outshot CSUSM (53.2%-42.1%) from the field and from beyond the arc (38.9%-28.6%).
• The Cougars committed five fewer turnovers at 17-12.
• Despite the loss, CSUSM led the game for 27:26 while CWU had it for 9:13.
• Milton led the team in scoring and Mensah led the team in rebounds for the third consecutive game.
• The Wildcats' McNeil led all scorers with 19 points.
• This was the first-ever meeting between CSUSM and CWU.

 
UP NEXT
CSUSM will return to action at Point Loma on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Golden Gymnasium.