Box Score

ARCATA — Corey Caston, the young man known as C-Squared at Cal State San Bernardino, exponentially provided a lift to his Coyote teammates as CSUSB knocked off No. 2-seeded Humboldt State, 64-55, in the semifinals of the CCAA Tournament.

The junior point guard from Chicago, Ill., took over a game that was never out of reach and put the Coyotes (21-7) on his back in the final eight minutes of the game. Caston had scored nine points in the first 32 minutes of the game, but finished with a game-high 20, going 7-for-16 from the field and hit two clutch 3-pointers to thrust CSUSB into the CCAA finals against rival Cal Poly Pomona.

With 9:28 to play Cal State San Bernardino led 45-40 on an Aaron Hill trey, but the Lumberjacks (22-7) got a three from CCAA Player of the Year Zac Tiedeman to make it 45-43. Tiedeman then gave HSU its first lead of the game since the Jacks led 5-4 in the first half with a free-throw and another jumper.

Just seconds later Caston stood outside the arc and crossed over his defender to get in the lane and hit a running lay up to put the Coyotes back on top at 47-46. CSUSB didn't trail from that point on. On the next possession, Caston darted out in front of a Humboldt pass and raced to the other end. The only way to stop him was an intentional foul.

Caston hit the second of his two free throws and just seven seconds later drained a 3-pointer to put the Coyotes up 51-46 with 7:23 to play. HSU eventually got it back to a two-point game at 52-50 with 3:24 left, but a Lawrence Tyson three put CSUSB back up at 55-50. Caston hit a pair of free throws with 54 seconds to play to give the Coyotes a 57-52, but the Jacks didn't go away.

A Kevin Atkins trey found the bottom of the net to make it a 57-55 game with 47 seconds left.

Cue in Caston.

As it had the previous seven and half minutes, the ball found its way into Caston's hands. After letting the clock drain out a little time, Caston went to the left wing and launched a deep three that all but cinched a spot in the CCAA finals as CSUSB took a 60-55 lead.

David Jefferson and Hill each hit a pair of free throws in the waning seconds to put the game on ice and gave the Coyotes a chance for their second straight CCAA Tournament title.

Bryan LeDuc and Devon Davis each scored 10 points for CSUSB with LeDuc pulling down a game-high nine rebounds. Hill finished with seven points and dished out six assists. Caston also came up with three steals and three assists.

While the vision of a berth at the West Region Tournament became a lot clearer, the mission still isn't complete for head coach Jeff Oliver and his team. One game still remains and a second straight win over another team ranked ahead of CSUSB in the West Region standings would pay great dividends in tournament seeding.

Last year Cal Poly Pomona missed out on a tournament title, falling in the semifinals before making an improbable run to the national title game. These two split games with each other, winning a game on each other's home court. Now the two will battle for the CCAA Tournament title on a neutral site. Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m. and the game can be seen live on goccaa.org or fans can listen to KCAA 1050 AM.