SAN MARCOS, Calif. – A late comeback fell short for the Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team (0-9, 0-3 CCAA) as it took a 78-73 loss against No. 19 Cal State San Bernardino (9-2, 2-1 CCAA) on Saturday afternoon at The Sports Center.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Kyelin King – 24 points | 5 rebounds | 2 steals
Dexter Stratton – 16 points | 8 rebounds
Will Harris – 14 points | 4 steals | 3 rebounds
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Coyotes took their largest lead of the first half on an Andrew Henderson turnaround jumper that made it 19-11 at 11:03 mark. 
• CSUSM closed the gap to 21-19 on a Kyelin King layup at 4:59. 
• A King 3-pointer at 1:26 capped a 7-0 run to even the game at 29-all. 
• King followed with a falling-on-the-ground layup and a steal that led to a fast-break layup to put CSUSM up 33-29. 
• An offensive rebound and putback by Veljko Muntilak added to CSUSM's lead at 35-29 with 20 seconds left in the half and capped a 13-0 run.
• CSUSB ended the first half with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Jordan Jones to make it 35-32 at halftime. 
• CSUSM shot 58.3% (14-of-24) in the opening 20 minutes to CSUSB's 31.3% (10-of-32). 
• King led all scorers in the first half with 20 points.
• Tied at 37 with 16:32 to play, the Coyotes went on a 14-4 run to go up by 10 at 51-41 after a fast-break layup by Evan Oliver with 12:04 remaining.
• CSUSB took its largest lead of the game at 60-44 with 8:46 left after two good free throws by Jones.
• Down 70-60 with 1:27 to go, CSUSM went on an 8-1 to make it a three-point game at 71-68 after Dexter Stratton made a layup with 26 seconds remaining.
• The Coyotes went up 74-68 with three consecutive free throws by former Cougar Cameron Pierce with 21 seconds left.
• Still down by six with 10 seconds remaining, Will Harris cut the deficit to 76-73 with three ticks left, but a personal foul sent Pierce back to the line for the Coyotes where he made both free throws to end the game.
• CSUSB shot 50% (14-of-28) in the second half to CSUSM's 46.7% (14-of-30).
• The Coyotes made 14-of-17 (82.4%) free throws in the final 20 minutes.

 
FAST BREAKS

• CSUSM shot a season-high 51.9% (28-of-54) from the field while holding CSUSB to its second-lowest field-goal percentage of the season at 40% (24-of-60).
• The Cougars' 73 points were a season high and were the second-most allowed by the Coyotes this season.
• King's 24 points led the game and were the most by a CSUSM player this season.
• Harris' four steals were a season high by any Cougar.
• CSUSB had the edge in rebounds (38-31), assists (12-5), blocked shots (3-2) and turnovers (13-15) while both teams tallied eight steals.
• This was CSUSM's third game against a ranked opponent this season.

 
UP NEXT
CSUSM will play its final game of the calendar year in two weeks as it wraps up a three-game homestand against Sonoma State (5-4, 1-2 CCAA) on Saturday, Dec. 21 at 3 p.m.