California Baptist University
Portland State University
MBB Preview: The Lancer Set to Host the Joust with Three Matchups in Three Days
11/16/2023 11:48:00 AM | Men's Basketball
RIVERSIDE--- The California Baptist University men's basketball will continue its homestand with a triplet of games as a part of the Joust Tournament hosted in Riverside.
The Joust will occur Friday-Sunday of this week and will feature CBU, Cal Poly, St. Thomas, and Portland State. The tournament will be the second hosted by the Lancers in the DI era after hosting the Inland Empire Classic in 2018.
CBU is off to a 2-0 start with home wins over San Francisco State and Jackson State, both in double-digit affairs. The Lancers have been led by JUCO transfer Dominique Daniels Jr., who has averaged 23.5 points per game and connected on 11 triples to begin the season. Daniel's 22 points in the opener over SF State tied him for the most by a Lancer in their debut of the DI era. Daniels is 17th in the nation in scoring and threes made in the early portion of the season and was awarded Western Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Week for his efforts.
MATCHUP HISTORY:
The first game of the tournament for CBU will be a match-up with the Portland State Vikings of the Big Sky Conference. PSU enter the game also undefeated, jumping out to a 3-0 start. The Vikings defeated reigning Big West Champion UC Santa Barbara on the road in their previous outing and have registered wins over Air Force and Linfield. The Lancers and the Vikings competed against one another for the first time in program history last season, a game in which the Vikings took the win 74-72 in Riverside. The Vikings had one of the stingiest defenses in college basketball last season, forcing the 17th most turnovers in the nation in 2022-23.
The Saturday game will be against the St. Thomas Tommies, a matchup that will be the first in program history. The Tommies and Lancers share many similarities, having recently transitioned out of DII. The Lancers did so in 2018, while the Tommies are in year three of their transition into the Summit League. The Tommies produced their strongest season of the transition last year when they went 19-14 and fell five points shy of upsetting Oral Roberts in the Summit League Semifinals, a team that was undefeated in conference play in 2022-23. St. Thomas is 2-1 to begin the season, with wins over Idaho State and North Central. The lone loss for the Tommies was a tight contest at Cal.
The final matchup of the weekend will be a tilt against the Cal Poly Mustangs. The Lancers and Mustangs will match up for the seventh time in program history and for the second time in Riverside. The Mustangs won the last time out 64-53 in San Luis Obispo. The Mustangs were led by Brantly Stevenson, who is now on the Lancers roster and is second on the team in scoring this season, averaging 13.5 points per game in a sixth-man role. The Mustangs are off to a rocky start at 1-2 with road losses at Denver and Wyoming and their lone win over DIII La Verne.
MATCHUP INFORMATION:
Game 1: CBU vs Portland State
Date: Friday, November 17
Time: 7 PM
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: Fox AM 1350
Game 2: CBU vs St. Thomas
Date: Saturday, November 18
Time: 5 PM
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: Fox AM 1350
Game 3: CBU vs Cal Poly
Date: Sunday, November 19
Time: 5 PM
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: Fox AM 1350
Tickets here
