CSUB men’s basketball lets momentum slip away in loss to Portland State

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Saturday night’s non-conference men’s basketball game between Cal State Bakersfield and visiting Portland State was full of possibilities. It should have been a continuation, a build-on game to back up on the Roadrunners’ breakthrough road game performance and win only a few days earlier against the University of Portland.

A Roadrunners victory Saturday would have kept the momentum and confidence going with full-on Big West Conference play a little more than a week away.

CSUB’s first half showed some definite signs: A 12-point halftime lead. A defensive effort in which the opposition was limited to 18 points, 10 on free throws and 15 turnovers.

Then came the second half. The Portland State team that averages 84.5 points per game emerged with a 15-4 run to start the second half and erase the deficit. The Vikings shot 68% from the field and overcame technical fouls that led to the ejection of a key player. And yet the Vikings kept it together, took their first lead with 7:20 left, withstood a late CSUB rally, and left town with a 59-58 victory.

The last Roadrunners possession came with 11.7 seconds left. CJ Hardy got the ball inside to Corey Stephenson just before time expired and while he had two opportunities to make a game-winning, high-percentage shot, the ball just wouldn’t go in.

“I had a chance to save us, but I missed, rebounded and missed again. There’s nothing I can say now. I can’t get it back so, hopefully, I’ll be better next game,” Stephenson said.

While it wasn’t a conference loss, it definitely left a mark. And it was interesting to see how much it would affect CSUB, who on Monday had to put the stirring loss behind them, board a plane for Fargo, N.D. and play a North Dakota State team that wanted to avenge an 86-81 CSUB win in November at the Icardo Center.

“What’s disappointing to me is that what we did a couple of nights ago at Portland was definitely not what we did tonight,” CSUB Coach Rod Barnes said. “I thought we were a little…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/csub-mens-basketball-lets-momentum-020100001.html

Author : The Bakersfield Californian

Publish date : 2024-12-24 02:01:00

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