TURLOCK -- Cal State L.A. thought it would be a good decision to leave the ball in the hands of their best player Friday night at Warrior Arena with the game tied 71-71 and the seconds ticking off the clock, but the decision would prove to be detrimental in the end.

Instead of winning it for the Golden Eagles, Chris Fields booted the ball with seven seconds left in the game while attempting to drive to the basket for a game-winning layup, and the Warriors' go-to player Benny Koochoie got his chance to win it for his team.

Koochoie drove the length of the court and put up a layup that hit the backboard, bounced on the rim twice and went in to give the Warriors a 73-71 lead with 2.5 seconds left on the clock. The layup would prove to be the winning shot as Cal State L.A. could not get a desperation shot off in time as the buzzer sounded the end of the game.

"Now we can believe we can beat an athletic team," said Warriors head coach Keith Larsen.

The win is the Warriors' first in California Collegiate Athletic Association play this season and snaps a four-game losing streak. Their record is now 5-7 overall and 1-6 in the CCAA. Cal State L.A. takes just their second loss in nine games, dropping their record to 8-6 overall and 3-4 in the CCAA.

The turnover by Cal State L.A. and the answering layup by Koochoie defined the game for the Warriors, who forced their opponent to turn the ball over 23 times, while only giving up possession 13 times themselves.

"We had 57 turnovers last week," Larsen said. "That might've been a little of an emphasis this week. It's not what you coach, it's what you emphasize."

It was Fields who had turned the ball over just seconds earlier with the Golden Eagles leading 71-69, which led to a Terry Johnson layup that tied the game at 71 all with 38 seconds on the clock.

The Warriors only trailed by two at halftime, 30-28, and took a lead as large as 10 points with 8 minutes, 44 seconds left in the second half, but Cal State L.A. went on a 17-3 run to take a 66-62 lead with under three minutes to play.

Cal State L.A. would lead by as much as six points, 71-65, with only 1:18 on the clock after Bell hit a 3-pointer, but the Warriors scored eight-straight unanswered points to win by two.

All five of the Cal State Stanislaus starters scored in double digits, led by a career-high 16 points from Chris Hayes and Michael Dyson, who matched Hayes with 16 points to tie a career high. Koochoie finished with 14 points, Chris Teevan had his second-consecutive double-digit scoring game with 11 and Matt Ibewiro added 10 points and eight boards to lead the team in rebounding.

Fields came into the game averaging 18.3 points in CCAA games for the Golden Eagles, but the Warriors limited him to 12 Friday night. Chris Mark picked up where Fields left off and notched a double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Donte Bell went 7-for-11 from the field to get 19 points and Artis Gant had 10.

The Warriors will continue their homestand at 7:30 p.m. Saturday with a game against second place Cal State Dominguez Hills, who won going away Friday night at Chico State, 83-54.

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