Open And Shut

Friday, November 14

Riverside

7:00 PM

California Baptist University

1-0

Cal State Dominguez Hills

0-1

Cal State Dominguez

California Baptist

Photo by: Jacob Gonzalez

11/14/2014 9:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Sammi Sheppard, Director of Sports Information

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — It's been 10 years since California Baptist University and Cal State Dominguez Hills have faced each other, but the No. 24-ranked Lancers continued momentum from the past to secure a 69-43 victory.

"It's great to be playing back in Van Dyne, it's been a while," said head coach Rick Croy. "The environment meant so much to us. I think our guys understand how special it is to have a basketball culture here at CBU. We want to put together a good product for them. It means a lot to defend our house. That was one of the first goals the guys set. The way we play, we're a very energy-based program and the crowd's energy fuels us. I think we're just scratching the surface of what it can be. We want it to be like that every night."

CBU opens the season the same way it did last year, with a win in its opener, to start 1-0. It also marks the 15th-straight home victory the Lancers have grabbed under Croy—CBU boasted an undefeated at home record last year (14-0). The Toros begin the 2014-15 campaign 0-1.

Two familiar faces finished the night in double-figure scoring for the Lancers. Chris Brown grabbed a game-high 16 points (6-for-8), while Ryan Berg ended the night with 10 points (3-for-7). Gelaun Wheelwright snagged a team-high eight rebounds for CBU, followed by Eric Nelson with seven boards.

"Eric is a great story," said Croy. "We always thought he was a great fit here as a person, he had to grow as a competitor. He's done that. He's accepted challenges and embraced the work. It's paying off and everyone can see it. It's really fun to see something like that."

From the get-go, the Lancers turned up the tempo and shot out to a 5-0 start off a layup from Berg and a three-pointer from Wheelwright.

Ten minutes into the contest CBU started to open up its lead. After the Toros sank two free throws to cut the home team's lead to 15-8, Brown helped the Lancers respond with a layup and drew a foul in the process for a three-point play.

CSUDH tried to keep CBU's lead in single-digit territory, but couldn't hold back the Lancers' attacks. As the clock hit the one-minute mark, Berg spun off his defender and laid the ball up for Nelson to slam it in the rim on the alley-oop.

Coming out of the break with a 33-18 lead, CBU looked to keep the momentum on offense and keep forcing the Toros to take tough shots.

The Lancers opened the second half on a 20-6 tear to take a commanding 53-24 lead. After exchanging points in the beginning, CBU scored 10-straight points, while the Toros continues to miss shots from the perimeter.

"Our committment to defense was great, even when we were up," said Croy. "Even when we were up by 20, we were still in our stance and communicating. We need to do a better job on the glass and not give up as many offensive rebounds, but our committment to defense was really good."

Michael Smith initiated the 10-0 run, followed by a layup from Jordan Giusti and free points at the charity stripe. After a 30-second timeout, Brown, Nelson and Taj Spencer each scored two points to cap the run.

With a good cushion of 58-24 under its belt, CBU headed down the stretch looking to close out the game.

"CSUDH did a good job denying our wings and trying to take us off the three, knowing we're a pretty prolific three-point shooting team," said Croy. "In the second half, we settled down and really put a lot of pressure on their defense. Some teams are going to work really hard at defending our three and we need to work around it to get good reads. In the second half we did a good job of that.

The Toros picked up their tempo in the final three minutes to cut CBU's lead to 58-42, but Berg ended the scoring spree with a layup. Brown followed with a steal, putting him on the attack, and rattled his layup through the hoop to put the Lancers back up by 20 at 62-42.

Making his first appearance after redshirting last year, Danny King made a difficult shot to extend his squad's lead to 67-43. Berg finished two free chances at the line to let CBU walk away victorious 69-43.

The Lancers return to Van Dyne Gym tomorrow night to conclude the CBU Classic, taking on Cal State Monterey Bay at 7:00 p.m. The Otters also opened the season 1-0 after defeating Holy Names 80-67.

"We need to bring the same kind of defensive committment tomorrow night since CSUMB has a dangerous offensive game," said Croy. "We have to be ready to defend and take better care of the ball. We want to play at a frenzied pace and still take really good care of the ball."