Cal State San Marcos Athletics

IRVINE, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team (1-1) picked up its first victory of the young 2026-27 season with a 70-69 win at Concordia University Irvine (1-1) on Friday night at CU Arena.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Chris Carrillo – 23 points | 4 assists | 2 steals | 2 rebounds
Wyatt VonBlanco – 15 points | 3 steals | 1 assist
Mikey Aikhionbare – 7 points | 6 rebounds | 2 steals
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Tight early, CSUSM took its largest lead of the first half with a 9-0 run to make it 17-11 with 10:19 to go.
• An 8-0 run by the Golden Eagles immediately after put them up 19-17 with 8:02 left in the first period as Kevin Haupt hit a three.
• Tied at 25 with 2:47 remaining, CUI ended the half on a 6-2 run and went into halftime with a 31-27 lead.
• CSUSM shot 35.7% (10-of-28) in the first half while CUI came in at 48.3% (14-of-29).
• After a layup by Wyatt VonBlanco knotted the game at 37, a three by Chris Carillo put the Cougars back ahead at 40-37 with 16:55 to play.
• A 10-2 CSUSM run ended with a VonBlanco dunk to make it 50-39 with 13:31 remaining.
• CUI then closed the gap with a 10-0 run to make it a one-point game at 50-49 on another Haupt three with 10:09 to play.
• The Cougars raised the ante with a 12-0 run of their own to go up 62-49 on a Rob Salmon layup at the 6:46 mark.
• Still down 13 with 4:16 to play, the Golden Eagles scored nine consecutive points and brought the deficit to four at 66-62 with 1:40 remaining.
• Two made free throws by Haupt cut CSUSM's lead to 69-68 with seven seconds to go, but a Chase Mayo Harmon free throw on the next possession put the Cougars ahead with six seconds left.
• CUI drew a foul with less than a second remaining, sending Tyler Isaak to the charity stripe to potentially tie the game and send it to overtime, but after making the first, he missed the second and handed CSUSM the 70-69 win.
• CSUSM had a much better second half from the field, shooting 55.6% (15-of-27) while CUI was close by at 52.2% (12-fo-23). The Cougars went 6-of-10 from beyond the arc in the final period.

 
FAST BREAKS

• The Cougars ended the game shooting 45.5% (25-of-55) from the field while the Golden Eagles finished at 50% (26-of-52).
• CSUSM forced 18 CUI turnovers while earning 11 steals.
• The Cougars spent 23:50 with the lead to the Golden Eagles' 6:49.
• Carrillo led all scorers with 23 points and four assists.
• CSUSM's bench posted 26 points to CUI's 12.
• The Cougars ended a streak of four consecutive Golden Eagle wins dating back to 2019-20 and improved to 5-3 when playing CUI on the road.

 
UP NEXT
CSUSM will play its home opener against Biola (1-1) on Saturday at 5 p.m. inside The Sports Center.