TURLOCK — In a non-conference game against a California Collegiate Athletic Associate foe, the Stanislaus State men's basketball team defended, rebounded and dominated the inside game to rout visiting Cal State Dominguez Hills Friday afternoon at Ed & Bertha Fitzpatrick Arena.
Playing as a collective unit, the Warriors had three players in double digits in scoring with a fourth just a point shy of it as they picked up their first win of the season, running away with a 64-45 decision. Stan State lost its first two games on the road last week by two narrow margins — but Saturday night's game was a no-doubter early on.
Kaelen Mitchell led the way with 14 points and the two bigs,
Vondel Faniel and
Kyle Gouveia, each with 13 points and nine rebounds as the Warriors improved to 1-2 by winning the regular season home opener.
Stephen Evans scored nine points and
Jaelen Ragsdale chipped in seven as well.
Richard Medina contributed with three assists and three steals.
Cal State Dominguez Hills, coming off a great game against Division I Cal Poly on Thursday, shot just 28.6 percent for the game (and 25 percent in the second half). Glenn Baral had 10 points off the bench with three 3-pointers for the Toros (1-2).
Gouveia's back-to-back layups started a 8-0 Stan State run to allow the Warriors to pull ahead, 23-10 at the 9:05 mark. The Warriors would maintain a cushion and built a 39-24 lead at the half with Gouveia converting a three-point play to close out the first half.
Much of the offense was created by the strong presence of both Gouveia and Faniel inside as the Warriors controlled the paint. The Warriors out-rebounded CSUDH, 22-14, in the first half alone. Stanislaus State ended up with 34 of its 64 points form inside the paint against CSUDH's 18. The final rebounding count was 42-35 in favor of Stan State.
The Warriors also shot 42.9 percent from the field including a warm first half hitting on 51.6 percent of their shots (16 for 31).
Evans nailed a three-pointer to start the second half, then another 7-2 Warrior spurt for a 46-26 lead at 15:56 as the Warriors cruised to the win. Consecutive treys by the Toros' Baral and Deondre Otis did get Dominguez Hills within 12 points at 11:23, but the Toros never really threatened to gain much more momentum.
The Warriors will play in the NDNU Thanksgiving Classic next weekend with games against Notre Dame de Namur (Friday at 7 p.m.) and Holy Names (Saturday at 5 p.m.)
