LOS ANGELES – The Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team (12-11, 9-9 CCAA) completed its season sweep of Cal State LA (7-17, 6-12 CCAA) with a 71-66 victory on Saturday afternoon at University Gym.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Micah Boone – 14 points | 3 rebounds
Max Tengan – 12 points | 2 steals | 1 rebound | 1 assist
Dexter Stratton – 10 points | 6 rebounds | 1 assist
Aaron Ragen – 9 points | 2 rebounds | 1 assist
Chris Carrillo – 9 assists | 8 points | 3 steals | 1 rebound
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Cougars began the game with a 4-0 lead on a jumper from Dexter Stratton and a driving layup from Chris Carrillo before the Golden Eagles went on a 10-0 to take a 10-4 lead with 16:12 to go.
• Down 24-19 with 6:34 remaining in the half, CSUSM retook the lead with a 6-0 run as a dunk from Jaylin Leslie made it a 25-24 game with 4:48 to play.
• After LA went back up 31-27 on a dunk from Khemanni Davis with 1:41 to go, CSUSM closed the half on a 5-0 run to retake the lead at 32-31 with a dunk from Veljko Munitlak.
• The Cougars shot 53.8% (14-of-26) from the field and 50% (3-of-6) from downtown in the first 20 minutes, while the Golden Eagles shot 50% (11-of-22) from the field and 28.6% (4-of-14) from beyond the arc.
• Tied 37-37, LA went up 42-37 with a 5-0 run and a jumper from Donovan Vickers with 15:44 to play.
• CSUSM followed with a 7-0 run to go up 44-42 on a Nate Simon second-chance layup with 13:32 remaining.
• The Cougars took their largest lead of the game at 56-51 on a 3-pointer from Max Tengan with 6:47 to play.
• With CSUSM still up by five with 3:27 to go, LA retook the lead at 65-64 as Jordan Hansen made a three to complete the 6-0 run with 40 seconds left.
• Aaron Ragen drained a three on the next possession to give the Cougars a 67-65 lead with 33 ticks remaining.
• A CSUSM foul with 12 seconds left put LA at the charity stripe, but the Golden Eagles only converted one of two free throws before the Cougars made four consecutive free throws to end the game with the 71-66 win.
• The Cougars held the Golden Eagles to 35.5% (11-of-31) from the field in the second half while maintaining their own first-half presence at 53.6% (15-of-28).

 
QUICK HITS

• CSUSM ended the game shooting 53.7% (29-of-54) while holding LA to 41.5% (22-of-53).
• The Cougars won the battle in rebounds (32-27), assists (17-16) and steals (7-6).
• CSUSM scored eight fast-break points to LA's two.
• The Cougars' bench outscored the Golden Eagles', 27-20.
• Chris Carrillo's nine assists were the most by any Cougar since Bryce Sloan's nine on Jan. 14, 2019, against Cal Poly Humboldt.
• With four games to go, CSUSM is tied for fifth in the CCAA standings with Cal State San Bernardino and sits one game ahead of Cal Poly Pomona and Stanislaus State.

 
UP NEXT
CSUSM will play its next-to-last home game of the season against San Francisco State (3-21, 2-16 CCAA) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in The Sports Center.