SAN MARCOS, Calif. - The California State University San Bernardino men's basketball team defeated Cal State Los Angeles 98-83 Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the CCAA Tournament at the Sports Center.
With the win, the Coyotes improve to 22-10 overall on the season, and advance to face Chico State on Friday afternoon in the CCAA Semifinals.
Cal State San Bernardino got off to a huge start, opening the game on a 14-5 run to force an early Golden Eagle timeout just 4:08 into the contest. Graduate student Evan Oliver (San Bernardino, Calif.) and Andrew Henderson (Chatsworth, Calif.) hit back-to-back triples to force Cal State LA to burn the early timeout.
The Coyotes continued to roll out of the timeout, scoring the next seven points, including a Jordan Jones (Macon, Ga.) three to take a 21-5 lead.
Cal State Los Angeles trimmed the deficit down to just seven late in the half, but the Yotes opened the lead back up to 10 at 46-36 with final-minute buckets from Andrew Henderson and junior Fallou Cisse (Thies, Senegal).
Senior forward Charlie Henderson (Ladera Ranch, Calif.) led all players with 13 first half points, shooting a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor in the period. Andrew Henderson poured in 12 first-half points, going 4-for-5 from beyond the arc.
The Yotes continued to shoot lights out in the second half, keeping the Golden Eagles from getting to within less than three possessions. CSUSB began to pull away just over halfway through the period, as Oliver, Charlie Henderson, and Oliver again hit threes on three straight possessions, followed shortly by an old-fashioned three-point play from senior Nic Welp (Seattle, Wash.), giving the Yotes an 85-71 lead with 6:22 to play that all but iced the victory for the Yotes.
Charlie Henderson was the game's leading scorer with 28 points, while Andrew Henderson put home 25 points on 9-for-13 shooting, including 6-of-8 shooting from three.
Oliver flirted with a triple-double in the win. He scored 18 points, dished out 12 assists, and grabbed eight rebounds. Welp had a double-double of his own, with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
CSUSB had one of its strongest offensive performances of the season in the win. The 98 points they scored was their second highest offensive output of the year, behind only a 101 point outing against Western Oregon on November 10. The Yotes' field goal percentage of 60.3 percent was the highest of the season, while the 60.9 percent three-point percentage matched a season-high.
The CCAA Semifinal contest between CSUSB and Chico State will be played on Friday afternoon at 12 p.m. at the Sports Center on the campus of Cal State San Marcos. The game will be broadcast live on the CCAA on FloSports. Live statistics, tickets, parking information, and more, are all available at GoCCAA.org. You can also listen live on KMET Radio 1490 AM and the KMET mobile app.
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