SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team (8-14, 7-9 CCAA) fell short to Cal State Monterey Bay (7-14, 5-11 CCAA) by a score of 70-64 in the Cougars' penultimate home game on Thursday night at The Sports Center.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Edwyn Collins – 28 points | 9 rebounds | 2 assists | 2 steals
Max Tengan – 19 points | 5 rebounds | 2 assists | 1 steal
Uriah Foster – 11 points | 4 rebounds
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After CSUSM took a 5-2 lead, Monterey pulled away with 10 unanswered points that were capped at 13:49 on a Joe Wall layup.
• The Otters took their largest lead of the game at 30-16 as Joe Wall made a layup with 6:34 to play.
• CSUSM closed the first half with an 8-3 run to cut the Otter lead to 34-28 at the break.
• The Otters held a slight lead in field-goal percentage in the first half at 37.5% (12-of-32) to CSUSM's 34.4% (11-of-32).
• The deciding factor was CSUMB's success behind the arch, sinking five 3-pointers to CSUSM's one in the first 20 minutes.
• The Cougars opened the second half with a 13-6 run to take their first lead since the opening minutes on a Collins' 3-pointer right in front of the CSUSM bench to make it 41-40 with 15:55 remaining.
• Following CSUSM taking the lead, CSUMB soon went back up by seven at 53-46 on a Joe Wall 3-pointer with 9:35 to go.
• A 3-pointer and two made free throws by Collins cut CSUSM's deficit down to two (57-55) with three minutes remaining.
• A second-chance 3-pointer by Tengan made it a one-point ballgame (65-64) with 31.3 seconds remaining.
• The Otters kept the Cougars at bay in the final 31 seconds by making five of their six free throw attempts.
• CSUSM shot better in the second half at 42.4% (14-of-33) while CSUMB came in at 41.7% (10-of-24).

 
FAST BREAKS

• The Otters finished the game shooting marginally better than the Cougars at 39.3% (22-of-56) from the field while CSUSM ended at 38.5% (25-of-65).
• CSUMB had the advantage in rebounds (41-35), assists (13-5) and blocks (4-2) while CSUSM tallied more steals (6-5) and fewer turnovers (16-11).
• The Otters scored 30 points off the bench while the Cougars scored just two.
• Collins led the Cougars in scoring for the 12th time this season while posting a game-leading 28 points.
• With the victory, CSUMB won the season series after winning 93-88 in Seaside on Jan. 6.
• CSUSM is now in a tie for seventh in the CCAA standings with Sonoma State and is still one game behind sixth-place San Francisco State.

 
UP NEXT
CSUSM will play its final home game of the 2023-24 season on Saturday as it faces Stanislaus State at 3 p.m. Prior to the game, the Cougars will honor seniors Edwyn Collins, Chris Howard and Bing Huang.