SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team (3-15, 3-9 CCAA) fell 64-58 at Cal State LA (8-11, 6-7 CCAA) on Thursday night at CSULA Gymnasium.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Micah Boone – 20 points | 6 rebounds | 1 steal | 1 block
Donovan Watkins – 10 points | 4 rebounds | 3 assists | 2 steals
Dexter Stratton – 8 points | 8 rebounds | 5 assists | 2 steals | 3 blocks
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Cougars began the game down 6-0 before finally taking its first lead of the game at 18-17 with a Veljko Muntilak jumper with 9:14 to go in the half.
• CSUSM took its largest lead of the period at 34-28 on a Boone dunk following an LA turnover with 38 seconds to play.
• The Cougars took a 34-30 lead into the halftime break.
• CSUSM shot 43.8% (14-of-32) from the field in the first half while LA was one point better at 44.8% (13-of-29). The Cougars had a 23-13 advantage on the boards.
• Micah Boone led all scorers in the first 20 minutes with 18 points.
• Tied at 36 with 17:01 remaining, the Golden Eagles took the lead for good with a Corey Cofield II tip-in layup to make it 38-36.
• LA took its largest lead of the game at 50-41 on another tip-in layup by Cofield.
• CSUSM narrowed the gap to four points late on a fastbreak layup from Donovan Watkins following an LA turnover to make it 61-57 with 42 seconds to go.
• The Golden Eagles didn't allow the Cougars to come any closer and made three consecutive free throws to go back up by seven at 64-57 with eight ticks remaining.
• CSUSM shot just 33.3% (6-of-18) in the second half while LA shot 35.1% (13-of-37) while exploiting the Cougars' 17 second-half turnovers.

 
FAST BREAKS

• CSUSM ended the game shooting 40% (20-of-50) while LA came in at 39.4% (26-of-66).
• The Cougars won the rebound battle at 37-35 while also racking up more assists at 14-12.
• CSUSM tallied a season-best eight blocks while LA had seven.
• The Golden Eagles had 20 second-chance points to the Cougars' nine.
• LA capitalized on CSUSM's season-high 27 turnovers by scoring 21 points off them.
• The game featured six lead changes and three ties.
• LA's Raphael Gay led the game with 28 points and 12 rebounds.
• CSUSM still owns the all-time series lead against LA at 9-8 and is tied 4-4 when playing in Los Angeles.

 
UP NEXT
CSUSM will conclude its four-game road trip at CCAA leader (RV) Cal State Dominguez Hills (15-4, 12-1 CCAA) on Saturday at 3 p.m.