SEASIDE — The Warriors picked a terrible night to not play good basketball as Cal State Stanislaus lost at Cal State Monterey Bay, one of the better shooting teams in the conference Friday night.
After scoring the game's first five points, the Warriors never could get the offense going while the Otters shot lights out for the 80-60 final. The first place Cal State Stanislaus team saw its winning streak snapped at four games and fell to 11-5 overall and 8-3 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
Cal State Monterey Bay, a team that averages 71.3 points a game, good for second best in the CCAA, was every bit as advertised as a team that could score. And the Otters scored at will and prevented Stanislaus from any offensive runs to get back into the game. CSUMB is now 9-8 overall and 4-6 in CCAA play.
After Cal State Stanislaus scored the first five points, CSUMB went on a 23-2 run to lead by 16 points. Even with a 13-point deficit at the break, a strong second half would give the Warriors a chance to stay ontop in the standings. But that was not to be. Another 16-3 Otter run put the game out of reach as Monterey Bay extended its lead to 28 points, 62-34, at the 9:18 mark.
Every time Stanislaus tries to make a run, the Otters answered on offense, easily. The longest stretch the Warriors went with unanswered scores was six — on back-to-back three-pointers by
Alek Carlson and
Christian Bayne.
Bayne finished as the Warriors' scoring leader with 12 points.
Chris Read, surprisingly had an off-night, with just 10 points on 4 of 10 shooting while
Rob Walters also scored 10 points with eight rebounds.
Evan Zeller led the Otters with 15 points and Mateo Jones added 13 points off the bench for Cal State Monterey Bay.
In the end, CSUMB shot 53.4 percent to the Warriors' 40.0. The Warriors also were out-rebounded, 41-26 . The Otters entered the week as the CCAA team-leader with 36.3 rebounds a game. Stanislaus was also just 9-for-17 on the free throw line.
The 20-point was the Warriors' largest margin since the 80-53 game at then-No. 11 California Baptist way back on Dec. 29.
Cal State Stanislaus, which remains tied for first with two other CCAA teams, will try to right-the-ship Saturday night at Cal State East Bay.
