SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – On a snowy day that caught the entire Inland Empire by surprise, the CSUSB men's basketball team defeated Stanislaus State by a score of 90-74 in The Den to finish the regular season with a perfect 11-0 record at home. Since Head Coach
Andy Newman took over in 2018-19, the Yotes own an impressive 42-11 (.792) record at home during the regular season, including a 22-1 (.957) stretch in the past two seasons.
Before the game began, CSUSB honored five seniors for their accomplishments both on the court and in the classroom. Those five seniors were #12
Elijah Hardy, #32
Kaijae Yee-Stephens, #13
Eddie Davis, #22
Darius Mickens, and #2
Brandon Knapper.
The No. 11 ranked Yotes won their 10
th consecutive game on Saturday afternoon, improving to 25-3 on the season and 20-2 in CCAA play. This is just the fourth time in program history that the Yotes have reached the 25-win mark, having only done it in 2001-02, 2003-04, and 2006-07.
The Warriors have been a challenge for the Yotes this season, defeating CSUSB 94-84 back in January and winning the first half of today's game. However, the Yotes showed resilience and outscored Stanislaus State 51-32 in the second half to come away with the win.
Mickens nearly earned a triple-double in the game, recording 14 points, 13 rebounds, and tying a season-high eight assists. Davis recorded 20 points for just the third time this season, however this is the 24
th time he has scored double digits. The Port Salerno, FL native is currently in the middle of an impressive stretch of 16 consecutive games with at least 10 points scored.
Knapper's Night
Brandon Knapper had a memorable night for the Yotes, scoring 32 points to move up to fourth place on the CSUSB all-time scoring list with 1,031 in his career. This is just the second time the senior has reached 30 points this season, having scored 37 points in the triple overtime thriller at Chico State on January 14
th.
Knapper also tied a season-high with eight made treys, marking his 94
th of the season. With three more, he will pass Tony Sanders (96) for second most in a season in program history. Eric Carpenter (1993-94) currently holds the record with 116. Additionally, Knapper now has 178 career three-point field goals made, sitting just 10 shy of tying Eric Carpenter (188) for the all-time CSUSB record.
Incoming History
The 2022-23 'Dino Boys will go down as the greatest scoring team in school history. After Saturday's win, the Yotes have scored 2,519 points on the season, averaging 90.0 per game. The all-time program record belongs to the 2006-07 squad, who scored 2,520 points in their Final Four run.
Yes, that means with the Yotes' first bucket in the CCAA Tournament next week, they will break the all-time team scoring record. What is even more impressive is that they came one basket short of accomplishing this feat in the regular season alone, whereas the 2006-07 team needed an additional five postseason games to reach that milestone.
CCAA Tournament
With their second consecutive CCAA regular season title, the Yotes clinched the number one seed in the upcoming CCAA Tournament. This means they will receive a bye in the quarterfinal round and advance directly to the semifinals. They are set to face the winner of #4 Cal Poly Humboldt vs #5 Sonoma State on Friday, March 3
rd, at 2:30 PM in Turlock, CA.
You can purchase tickets
here or catch the action on the CCAA Network at
ccaanetwork.com or listen in on KMET 1490 AM.
To see the full CSUSB men's basketball schedule, click HERE.
