CARSON — Despite a valiant effort in trying to make a comeback, the Stanislaus State men's basketball team could not recover from an ice-cold first half as the Warriors opened the CCAA season with a 57-42 loss at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

The Dominguez Hills Toros were able to avenge an earlier non-conference loss in Turlock and improved to 4-2 overall in the CCAA opening game for both squads. The Warriors are 2-5 overall.

The Warriors had beaten Cal State Dominguez Hills soundly, 64-54, back on Nov. 19 in a non-conference game in Turlock to extend their dominance over the Toros. Stan State had won six of the last seven head-to-head meetings in the series.

On Friday, Stan State fell behind 12-0 to start the game and did not score its first points until nearly eight minutes into the game on a Jaelen Ragsdale triple. The Warriors ended up 4 for 25 in the first half and trailed 32-11 at halftime. The Toros closed out the first half on a 16-2 run for that 21-point lead.

The Warriors could play better in the second half and got as close as 14 points after a little 6-2 run just before the five-minute mark. However Vincent Golson's free throw shooting and his three-pointer at 1:23 left kept the Toros far enough ahead.

Vondel Faniel scored 13 points for his fourth double-digit game of the season and Ragsdale finished with a new career-high nine points. Kyle Gouveia took just two shots and finished with five points — the first time this season he doesn't score 10 or more points.

Faniel also had eight rebounds but the Warriors were out-rebounded 43-32.

Stan State shot a decent 11 for 19 in the second half to finish the game at 34.1 percent.

Justin Sadler scored 14 with 11 rebounds and Golson finished with 16 points to lead the Toros.