By Joe Macias
Senior Writer
The CSU Bakersfield’s defense came alive in the second half to give the men’s basketball team its first win of the season 96-54 against San Diego Christian College on Saturday, Nov. 12 at the Icardo Center.
“Second half, I thought we were much better,” said CSUB coach Rod Barnes. “I was much more pleased with our defensive effort and (we) still got to get better. Every night I keep saying it. We want to win and then get better.”
Junior swingman Shonn Briggs led the Roadrunners with 21 points and was one rebound shy from a double-double with nine.
“We felt that when we recruited (Briggs) that he would be a lot like Kevin Mays,” said Barnes.
Mays, a former CSUB men’s basketball player, helped the Roadrunners win their first Western Athletic Conference championship last season.
Barnes said he feels Briggs is a good player, and proved that he could play inside and outside.
“I think it was a pretty good start,” said redshirt-junior guard Brent Wrapp. “In the first half we were a little shaky on defense, but in the second half we really locked in.”
CSUB’s bench combined to score 51 points in the game.
Briggs and redshirt-sophomore guard Damiyne Durham had 41 of those points.
Durham found his rhythm late in the game as he scored 15 of his 20 points in the last 10:47 of the game.
Durham showcased his long-range jumper as he went 6 of 10 from three-point range and 7 of 11 shooting in the game.
SDCC (1-2) committed 22 turnovers in the game, which CSUB was able to turn into 27 points of its own.
Before the game, CSUB had its WAC championship rings given to the 2016 team.
Former CSUB players Mays and Aly Ahmed were in attendance to receive their rings as well.
“It’s great,” said redshirt-senior forward Jaylin Airington on receiving his WAC championship ring. “A lot of hard work we did last year. It’s nice to see it and I feel grateful for it.”
The Roadrunners are scheduled to play at number 10 ranked Arizona Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 6 p.m.
At the time of this publication, CSUB had not yet played Arizona. For results on this game. go to therunneronline.com.
Arizona opened its season defeating Michigan State 65-63 in the Armed Forces Classic.
“We all watched the game yesterday, a little bit, just of them playing Michigan State because it was on and we were just kind of looking at our opponent,” said Wrapp. “We were focused on tonight, but now we got a great opportunity in front of us on Tuesday, so we got to take advantage of it.”
CSUB is scheduled to host UC Santa Barbara Nov. 19 at 7 p.m.
