SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team (7-10. 6-5 CCAA) came up short against Cal State East Bay (11-6, 7-4 CCAA), falling 68-65 on Saturday at The Sports Center.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Edwyn Collins – 30 points | 7 rebounds | 6 steals | 4 assists
Max Tengan – 14 points | 4 assists
Charlie Henderson – 10 points | 5 rebounds
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Neither team had more than a four-point lead in the first half as East Bay's Grady Lewis gave the Pioneers their largest lead of the half at 23-19 on a second-chance layup with 4:32 to go.
• CSUSM's best scoring run of the game concluded at the 2:15 mark in the first half on a Henderson layup that made it six unanswered points to put CSUSM up 25-23.
• A last-second shot by Kevin Ebiriekwe gave CSUEB 29-27 lead at the break.
• The Cougars shot 38.7% (12-of-31) in the 20 minutes to CSUEB's 28.6% (8-of-28).
• The Pioneers were 11-of-13 at the free throw line in the first half while CSUSM only went to the line twice, with Uriah Foster making both ends of his free throws.
• The first half contained nine lead changes and eight ties.
• The Pioneers got out to their largest lead of the game at 49-38 with 10:55 to play in the second half as Ebiriekwe made a 3-pointer.
• Back-to-back 3-pointers by Tengan and Mike Pope cut East Bay's lead to 50-45 with 9:09 remaining in the game.
• East Bay soon went back up by 11 on a Lewis layup to make it 56-45 with 7:17 to go.
• Tengan sunk back-to-back 3-pointers to make it a three-point game at 59-56 with 3:45 remaining in the game.
• At 3:29, a Collins layup made brought the Cougars within two at 60-58.
• A dunk by Foster with just 1:04 remaining cut CSUSM's deficit to one at 63-62.
• East Bay responded with a layup by Tyree Campbell with 35 seconds to go up 65-62.
• A Collins drive to the basket for a layup with 13 seconds remaining cut the gap to 65-64.
• With a flagrant and dead-ball technical foul called, East Bay's Campbell made both free throws while Pope made just one of two to make it 67-65 with 13.1 seconds remaining. 
• The Pioneers finished the game up 68-65 after Ebiriekwe made the back end of two free throws with 0.7 remaining.
• East Bay shot 54.2% (13-of-24) from the field in the second half while CSUSM came in at 48.4% (15-of-31). The Pioneers also came down with 22 rebounds to the Cougars' 11.

 
FAST BREAKS

• For the game, CSUSM ended up shooting 43.5% (27-of-62) from the field while holding CSUEB to 40.4% (21-of-52).
• The Cougars tallied more assists (14-10), more steals (11-6) and fewer turnovers (19-11) than the Pioneers while East Bay won the rebound battle at 44-30.
• CSUEB went to the free throw line 30 times – the most by a CSUSM opponent this season – and made 21 (70%).
• The Pioneers scored 18 second-chance points, 11 fast-break points and 25 bench points. The Cougars were held to five points in all three categories.
• Collins' career-high 30 points and six steals were the most by a Cougar this season.
• This was CSUSM's first-ever loss to East Bay at home in eight contests.
• The Cougars still have a 10-5 lead in the all-time series against the Pioneers.
• CSUSM is now alone in sixth in the CCAA standings, one game ahead of Sonoma State and Francisco State.

 
UP NEXT
CSUSM will hit the road to face No. 10 Chico State (12-4, 7-4 CCAA) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Chico.