CARSON — Trying to play catch up, the Stanislaus State men's basketball team made a tremendous effort in the second half. But, every time they made a run, Cal State Dominguez Hills had an answer.

In the end, the Warriors came up just short in their rally, falling to the Toros, 78-74.

Stanislaus State has now dropped three straight games and are now 10-10 in CCAA play. They are 15-11 overall. However, by virtue of its wins over the top two teams in the standings, the Warriors have clinic a berth in the CCAA Tournament.

The Warriors are now in seventh place but can finish no worse than eighth. Stan State holds the tiebreak advantage over Cal State L.A. (the current ninth place team at 8-12). It will be the Warriors' first postseason appearance since 2014-15.

Davis led the Warriors with 21 points with five rebounds and five assists against CSUDH. Vida Faniel and Kyle Gouveia each scored 14 points. Kaelen Mitchell was 3 of 10 for nine points for his first game under 10-points in six games.

Faniel — who was 6 for 6 from the free throw line — is now just two free throws away from tying the school record for consecutive free throws made. Calvin Westbrook holds the mark with 33 straight. Faniel is now 68 for 73 at the foul line this season.

Cal State Dominguez Hills (12-15, 11-11 CCAA) defended its home court by answer Stan State scoring runs.

The Warriors trailed by as many as 20 points in the game early in the second half, but a 14-4 run got them back in the game as they made some runs. They finally got within a single digit at 66-59 with 2:47 left to play on a Mat Bradshaw 3-pointer, but the Toros answered with a Glenn Baral triple.

After a pair of Davis free throws, Khalil Bedart-Ghani would make a three-pointer to give the Toros an 11-point lead.

A 7-0 Stanislaus run cut the deficit to four points, but a pair of Malcolm Johnson free throws kept CSUDH ahead. 

Davis would drain a three-pointer with 48 seconds left, only to see Johnson answer with a jumper.

The road Warriors were 9-4 in games away from Turlock this season but loss back to back road games for the first time this season. Saturday night, they were facing an opponent with just one-game on its weekly schedule for the third consecutive time.

Stanislaus will finish the regular season schedule with a pair of home games on Thursday (Cal State East Bay) and Saturday (Cal State Monterey Bay).