Box Score ONTARIO – A 16-point deficit just five minutes into Friday afternoon's CCAA Tournament semifinal was too much to overcome for No. 12-ranked Cal State San Bernardino, which was dealt a 72-67 defeat by fourth-seed Cal State Stanislaus at Citizens Business Bank Arena.

The Coyotes (23-4 overall), who entered the tourney not only as the No. 1 seed in the tournament by virtue of winning the CCAA regular-season title, were ranked as the West Region's top-ranked team in the NCAA regional polls the last three weeks. The NCAA will announce its 64-team, eight-regional tournament at 7 p.m. Sunday night at www.ncaasports.com.

Senior Kirby Gardner led the Coyotes' charge with 22 points, on 8-of-14 shooting and a game-high four 3-pointers. Fellow senior Jordan Burris had 19 and CCAA Player of the Year Lacy Haddock had 15 with five assists in 40 minutes.

But Taylor Statham was the next closest Coyote in scoring with five.

"The obvious story line tonight is you can't spot someone a 16-0 lead,'' Coyotes coach Jeff Oliver said. "We extended a tremendous amount of energy to get back into the game and then eventually lead. I'm proud of our guys. That was quite an effort, but it wasn't enough against a team that's played very well over the last month of the season.''

The Coyotes closed the gap over the final 4 minutes and 14 seconds of the half and went into halftime trailing 33-23 on Gardner's layup with 11 seconds on the clock.

CSUSB's big three were critical in bringing it back into the game. The Coyotes cut the Warriors' lead to three inside the first four minutes of the half. Burris hit a layup and a pair of free throws, and Haddock sandwiched two shots around a jumper by Gardner and CSUSB trailed 36-33 with 15:55 remaining.

However, the Coyotes did not earn their first lead of the game until Burris got hot with a pair of 3-pointers and put them up for the first time of the game with layup with 6:51 left and CSUSB up 52-51.

The Coyotes then increased their lead to their largest of the game – 57-52 -- on a backdoor cut by Christian Cooper on a pass from Juan Martinez with 4:47 left.

But CSUS responded with a 3-pointer by Taylor Bell and grabbed the lead for good on another 3, this one from Chris Read that put the Warriors out front 62-60 with two minutes left.

That's when Shey Mataele stepped up. A 62-percent free throw shooter for the season, he hit 8-of-8 from the line in the final 1:10 and shut the door on the Coyotes.

"I thought the momentum changer was Taylor's 3-pointer,'' Warriors coach Larry Reynolds said. "It was a turning point, no doubt.''

Marcus Bell led the Warriors with a double-double, scoring 21 points with 12 rebounds. Mataele and Read each had 17.

The Coyotes, who had their six-game winning streak snapped, will now wait for Sunday night's NCAA announcement.

"I think it will be close,'' said Oliver, when asked if he thought his team would host the regional, which begins Friday afternoon. "I thought we had some distance. Losing to a ranked team (Cal State Stanislaus was ranked ninth in this week's poll) should not hurt as much. I'd also like to think that having played one of the toughest schedules in the country should count for something, too.''

GAME NOTES: Haddock played the entire 40-minute game and has now played in 1,000 minutes this season. He is the only player in Coyote history to accomplish that task and has now done it in two straight seasons … The Coyotes are now 22-2 this season when leading with 5 minutes to go … Gardner's 22 points was the fourth time he has scored at least 20 points in a game … The Coyotes were just 7 of 14 from the line – a season low for made free throws … The 23 first-half points were a season low for CSUSB.