Defense leads CSUB over Cal Poly
’Runners earn 2nd win in row in conference play Saturday
Two nights after busting through and winning its first Big West Conference game of the year, the Cal State Bakersfield men’s basketball team hoped to keep the momentum going and win a second game in a row for just the second time this season.
The Roadrunners certainly looked like a team focused on that task right from the start of their matchup against Cal Poly Saturday night at the Icardo Center.
CSUB held the Mustangs to a paltry 19 points in the first half on the way to a 65-53 victory for the Roadrunners (7-11, 2-5).
“I thought our guys did what it took to win tonight,” CSUB coach Rod Barnes said. “We had some guys who played well. Overall, as a team we didn’t play as well as we did the other night. As I told them you have to have the same kind of focus, the same kind of urgency, regardless of who it is. We did a really good job in the first half of defending. I just thought offensively we weren’t where we needed be as for as playing as fluid as we needed to play.”
Tom Mark had 16 points and seven rebounds and Kaleb Higgins added 14 points for CSUB, which extended its winning streak against last-place Cal Poly (4-15, 0-7) to 11 games.
“We’re just more focused on what we have to do,” Higgins said. “We’re just coming together as a team.”
The 19 points allowed in the first half by the Roadrunners is the lowest total in a half by an opponent since Cal Poly had 16 in the first half against CSUB more than a year ago.
Despite an up and down performance, the Roadrunners were in control from start to finish.
“We need wins so it’s a confidence builder for us,” Barnes said. “We’ll get back to work. Look forward to starting back (today) for two road games.”
CSUB held the Mustangs to 25.9-percent shooting in the first half and led by as many as 15 during the first 20 minutes before going to intermission ahead 32-19.
The Roadrunners, who dominated on the offensive end inside the key in the first half, continued to pound the ball down low for easy baskets in the second half, finishing with 48 points in the paint.
CSUB wasn’t nearly effective from the outside, becoming one of the rare teams in NCAA Division I basketball to win a game this season without making a threepoint shot (0 for 6).
“We’ll take the win if don’t ever make a three again,” Barnes said.
Cal Poly was 6 of 15 from behind the arc. Five of the Mustangs threes came in the second half.
That didn’t keep them from falling behind by 21 points when CSUB 6-foot-9-inch forward Modestas Kancleris grabbed a rebound with 5:41 left in the game and drove coast-to-coast for a layup that brought the announced crowd of 1,974 to its feet.
That play all but sealed the victory for CSUB over a Mustangs squad that never got completely on track offensively.
The Roadrunners held Cal Poly’s leading scorer this year, Kobe Sanders, to 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting from the field. The 6-8 senior guard came into the game averaging 18.8 points per game. Sanders, who was coming off an injury, missed the Mustangs’ previous two games.
Quentin Jones led Cal Poly in scoring with 16 points.
Despite the victory, Barnes believes his team can play even better than it has the past two games.
“I really like some of the things I saw out there but we have plenty of room for improvement,” Barnes said.
“And that’s what I told them, that we should enjoy the two-game winning streak, but we can’t be satisfied with our play overall because we have a lot of upside.”