Reporter
CSU Bakersfield opened the month of February with a 30-point victory over Chicago State University.
CSUB (9-13, 2-5) defeated Chicago State (2-22, 0-7) at home, 91-61, on Thursday, Feb. 1.
The Roadrunners started the game on a 7-0 run and never relinquished the lead in its victory over Chicago State.
CSUB were led by the play of redshirt-junior guard Damiyne Durham and junior guard Rickey Holden. The Roadrunners had five different players scoring in double digits in the game. Freshman guard Jarkel Joiner added 14 points, while, senior forward Shon Briggs and redshirt-freshman Justin Davis both finished with 11 points.
Roadrunners Head Coach Rod Barnes was impressed with the team’s effort on both sides of the ball especially on the defensive side.
“I thought we defend really well which gave us an opportunity to keep them from cutting the game too close,” said Barnes.
“It was a good win. I was really happy because we play more together in this game,” Durham said. He added, “We knew where everyone was and played great defense.”
“We made some plays on the defensive end that turned into offensive opportunities. We got a couple of steals and converted them into points,” said Barnes.
Ricky Holden provided a spark offensively off the bench, finished with 17 points. Holden slashed through the hole and opened up the offense for the Roadrunners.
“I just came in and decided to be aggressive. Play a little harder on our end, on defense and the lane opened up for me,” said Holden.
Durham lead the team with 18 points.
“We’re coming together. We’re working on offense and defense and how to just make basketball plays. We expected to do this tonight because we’ve been having a few good practices the last few days,” said Durham.
The Roadrunners enter Saturday’s night game against University of Missouri-Kansas City feeling confident after the victory.
“They’re a good team and scrappy but we’ve been working so hard and feel like we can beat them with our defense,” said Durham.
Durham said their defense is talking more and communicating more.
Barnes said there is need for improvement for the team, thinking the team didn’t rebound well tonight as they can and there was a lull early in the second half which cut into CSUB’s lead.
CSUB will face UMKC Saturday Feb. 3 at the Icardo Center, 7 p.m., followed by two road games against New Mexico State University and University of Rio Grande Valley.
