CSU Bakersfield coasts to Big West victory over CSUN

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Rebounding from a tough previous weekend in Santa Barbara, Calif., the CSU Bakersfield men's basketball team posted a dominant victory against CSUN on Friday night. The Roadrunners coasted to a 25-point lead at halftime, held off a Matador surge in the second half, and closed out the Big West Conference game with an 84-58 win.

“We really worked this week, just as much mentally as we did physically,” said Rod Barnes, Head Coach of the `Runners. “I thought our guys were prepared. We worked extremely hard this week on our zone offense and I thought our guys came out and executed it early. CSUN really can score the basketball. I was pleased we were able to slow them down some.”

Barnes enjoyed double-digit scoring efforts from five different `Runners, led by guard Shaun Williams. The native of St. Louis tallied 19 points, seven assists, and two steals while redshirt senior De'Monte Buckingham chipped in 16 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Taze Moore did a little bit of everything in CSUB's win over CSUN, tallying 13 points, four rebounds, four assists, two steals, and three blocks.

El Dorado's Czar Perry led the Roadrunners with seven assists.

With the win, CSUB improved to 15-9 overall and 9-6 in Big West play. Down in Southern California, UC Santa Barbara (11-2 BWC) held off UC Riverside (5-4 BWC) on Friday night, moving the `Runners ahead of UCR on win percentage. Bakersfield now sits in third place in the league standings, but plenty of movement is expected over the final three games of the regular season.

As a team, Bakersfield enjoyed a 23-11 scoring advantage on points from turnovers while the `Runners pounded the paint for a 44-28 advantage. CSUB also received 37 points from its bench on Friday night. The `Runner offense knocked down nearly 55 percent of their shots and Bakersfield assisted on 26 of its 36 field goals in the Icardo Center.