TURLOCK — The top offense in the California Collegiate Athletic Association rolled into Turlock and flexed its muscles as visiting Cal State San Marcos defeated Stanislaus State, 96-79, Friday night at Ed & Bertha Fitzpatrick Arena.
The Cougars shot 64 percent for the game and made 16 three-pointers to improve to 9-2 overall and 4-1 in conference play. On the other side, the Warriors gave up 90-plus points for the second straight home game to fall to 9-4 and 5-3.
Credit the sharp shooters on the CSU San Marcos team as the squad that averaged more than 85 points a game put-up almost a hundred. Bear Henderson made seven triples en route to a game-high 25 points. Ethan Alvano notched a double-double with 24 points and 10 assists. Josh Spiers scored 19 points as CSUSM starters tallied 86 points.
As a team, the Cougars were 16 of 26 from downtown for 61.5 percent. Overall they were 30 of 47 (63.8 percent) and out-rebounded Stanislaus State 29-17 on the defensive boards.
Stanislaus was led by
Kaelen Mitchell's 14 points — most of them came late in the game — off the bench.
Rolaun Dunham scored 13 and
Andy Cleaves had 12 (10 in the first half). The Warriors bench scored 44 points.
Stan State show some fight and rallied near the end of the first half with a 9-0 run to take a 33-32 lead. But CSUSM stayed hot with a 19-6 run to start the second half to build an 18-point lead.
Xavier Francois answered with a layup moments later but that was as close as the Warriors could get the rest of the night. The Cougars' biggest lead was 24, at 86-62, with about five minutes left to play.
While San Marcos was making shots, the Warriors turned cold — at one point in the game was shooting under 40 percent before finishing 29 of 66 for 43.9 percent.
In its last outing, Stan State allowed 90 points to Seattle Pacific on Dec. 18. That night SPU shot 58.9 percent as a team.
The Warriors will have to regroup quickly with an earlier game on Sunday. The New Year's Eve game tips off at 4 p.m. against UC San Diego, following the women's game.
