SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - The #19 California State University San Bernardino men's basketball team is one win away from an automatic berth in the NCAA Division II Tournament after defeating Cal State East Bay 74-67 Friday night in the CCAA Semifinal at Coussoulis Arena.

The Coyotes, now 23-6 overall on the season, move on to face Cal State LA in the conference championship game on Saturday night at 8 p.m., also at Coussoulis Arena. The Golden Eagles defeated their rivals from Cal State Dominguez Hills in a 75-73 thriller in the other semifinal Friday night.

CSUSB jumped out to its largest lead of the evening at 31-22 with just over five minutes to play in the first half after a Sedrick Altman (Rialto, Calif.) lay-in, but the Pioneers closed the half on a 13-4 run to knot the score heading to the locker room. Junior Chris Mitchell (Oceanside, Calif.) was CSUSB's leading scorer in the opening half, dropping nine points. 

The Yotes ran the lead back out to nine points 6:38 into the second half when Mitchell drilled one of his game-high three triples (without a miss), putting the hosts on top 52-43. 

East Bay battled back to within as little as two points with 4:21 remaining, but the Yotes pulled back away, and sealed the victory with an emphatic LeAndrew Knight (Lompoc, Calif.) fastbreak slam with 20 seconds remaining.

The Coyotes used just six players in the victory, and five of them finished in double figures. Knight was CSUSB's leading scorer with 16 points, while Mitchell was close behind with 15. The game's only double-double belonged to Robby Robinson (San Diego, Calif.), who posted 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Jalen Flanagan (Oceanside, Calif.) added 13 and Altman added 10. Robinson and Knight each played the entire 40 minutes.
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