Box Score

TURLOCK -- Humboldt State's Brian Morris blocked three shots in the final 36 seconds of the game to turn a game of two completely different halves in favor of the visiting team Friday night at Warrior Arena.

With a chance to tie or win the game, the Warriors came up just short in the end after putting in a strong effort to loose to conference co-leader Humboldt State, 51-49.

Cal State Stanislaus, which led for 35-plus minutes in the game, dropped to 10-14 overall and 6-13 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. With Sonoma State winning at Chico State Friday, the Warriors are now two games behind the Seawolves for eighth place in the CCAA standings.

Stanislaus and Sonoma State go head-to-head on Saturday as the Warriors wrap-up their home schedule.

Humboldt State (18-6) remains in a three-way tie for first with Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona at 15-4 in conference play.

HSU has won seven straight against CSUS, dating back to the 1997-98 season, but Friday night's contest was dominated by Cal State Stanislaus early.

With HSU shooting as low as 8 percent during the first half (2-for-25 from the field), the Warriors took off to an early huge lead. Casey Cutts' three-pointer with 1:20 to go in the first half gave the Warriors a 26-5 advantage.

HSU's first points came nearly eight minutes into the game and at 16-5, the Jacks were held scoreless until a Kevin Atkins three-pointer with 75 seconds left to play — a seven-minute scoreless spell.

Meanwhile, the Warriors were hot with Dwight Jones scoring 8 of his 12 points in the first half. Chad Johnson, who finished the night with 11, scored seven in the opening period as CSUS led 31-11 at intermission.

The second half, however, was a different story. HSU used a 17-2 run to start to pull within five, 33-28, in just the first six minutes of the second period.

Stanislaus managed to pulled away with a nine-point lead following a 8-0 run that included four Johnson free throws and a Jones layup that made it 45-36 with 7:05 to play.

The Lumberjacks didn't go away, utilizing it's long-range shooting ability to rally back and eventually took over on a Zac Tiedeman trey with 3:52 to go. HSU made seven three-pointers in the second half and shot 58.3 percent from the floor. The Jacks outscored CSUS 40-18 in the second half.

Still, the Warriors had a chance against the Jacks. Trailing by two late in the game, the Warriors had opportunities around the basket. Johnson's shot was blocked on one sequence and after a HSU missed free throw, a Marcus Lever baseline jumper was again blocked by Morris.

Coming out of a timeout with the ball, the Warrior's last try with 3.6 seconds left was again stuffed when Jones drove the lane to find Morris's long arms in the way of the hoop.

Stanislaus also dominated the boards, out-rebounding the bigger Lumberjacks, 41-24. Jordan Stokes had 11 rebounds.

Ernie Spada and Atkins each had 12 to lead Humboldt.