On The Down Low

Saturday, November 22

Riverside

7:00 PM

California Baptist University

4-0

SF State

0-1

SF State

California Baptist

Photo by: Maribel Ramirez

11/22/2014 9:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Sammi Sheppard, Director of Sports Information

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — It's been over 30 years since California Baptist University and San Francisco State faced off. In their first matchup, the Gators dominated the Lancers 102-48, but not Saturday night. In a low-scoring matchup, CBU walked away victorious, defeating the visitors 63-41.

"It's what we expected," said head coach Rick Croy about the low-scoring matchup. "SF State does a great job controlling tempo. Coach [Josh] Dunaj said in the locker room 'if you want to have a good season, you have to be able to win games like that.'"

The Lancers improve to a perfect 4-0 on the season, keeping their home record under head coach Rick Croy unblemished at 18-0. SF State opens its season 0-1 with the loss.

Ryan Berg (5-for-9) kept his streak of scoring in double-digits alive with 16 points Saturday night. The sophomore finished last season on a nine-game run and has scored in double-figures each of CBU's four games this year. Berg also led the Lancers with five assists on the night.

"I think the best thing Ryan is doing is he's a much improved play-maker," said Croy. "When he's one of our top assist guys, we're just going to get better and better. Last year he was primarily a scorer. It's a combination of people zoning in on him and he's really maturing as a player. He's able to make the right play happen and use all of his talents, rather than just his scoring."

After Taj Spencer and Trevone Williams put the Lancers on the board first at 4-0, the Lancers kept the offensive pressure on thick. Eividas Petrulis sparked an 11-0 run by driving to the basket and Chris Brown capped it with a jump shot in the paint.

The Gators tried to keep things close, but couldn't get out of the double-digit hole before halftime as CBU held a 26-15 upper hand.

Coming out of the break, SF State had made some adjustments to battle back within five points after opening the half with a 10-2 run.

"We told our guys many times before the game to not get frustrated and play the moment," said Croy. "Even with that message, tonight showed it can be tough. They can wear you out mentally. They did for a period of time and then finally we started to get better shots and hit some threes and things kind of opened up for us."

Things opened up in the second half as CBU headed down the stretch with a 51-39 lead. Gelaun Wheelwright was the first of four Lancers to hit a three, while Williams, Eric Hunt and Spencer kept the Gators off the offensive boards to hand CBU the 63-41 win.

"I thought Eric Nelson, Spencer and Hunt were huge for us," said Croy. "Our interior defense and the job those guys has been phenomenal. They continue to make plays."

CBU remains at home as it hosts the Ayers Thanksgiving Classic next weekend. The Lancers first take on Texas A&M–Commerce on Friday at 7:00 p.m. Saturday CBU will face Cal State Stanislaus, also with a 7:00 p.m. tipoff.

"It was a good stretch, but we need to get back to work and get better," said Croy. "We've got really good teams coming through here and we need to just one-by-one lock in. More importantly for us, it's been about the opponent for about 10 days straight and we need to get back to work on the Lancers."