The CSU Bakersfield men’s basketball team faced off against Sam Houston State on Tuesday, Nov. 26 during a stretch of hosting four home games in eight days. This game was a double–header, with the women’s program playing their game right before. 

  The team had three new players in the starting lineup, featuring junior forward Shawn Stith, junior guard Czar Perry, and redshirt junior point guard/shooting guard Taze Moore. The game started slow, and what could have been a lot of easy points for the ‘Runners were nullified by costly mistakes. 

  After back-to-back shot clock violations, the ‘Runners found themselves trailing 24-14, but after an epic dunk by junior wing Justin McCall and a nice three-point shot by Moore, the ‘Runners were able to close the deficit to 24-29. The half would finish with that same score, as both teams missed more opportunities for points to close out the half.  

  After halftime, the ‘Runners came out with another slow start. It was not until redshirt junior Justin Edler-Davis hit a much needed three-point-shot to bring the game to 35-30 deficit favoring Sam Houston State. After a two-point shot and free throw from redshirt sophomore forward Darrin Person Jr. and another three-pointer from Moore, the ‘Runners only trailed 40-38.  

  Justin McCall had another excellent dunk off a rebound that got the crowd into the game. The excitement shook the arena.   

  The game remained close as the ‘Runners were only trailing 55-59 with just under three minutes left in the game. Unfortunately, they could not hold on, as Sam Houston State was able to come away with a victory and a final score of 74-65. Three players were interviewed in the postgame press conference.  

  Moore reacted to the back-and-forth contest. “Those guys were pretty scrappy and they’re a very good defensive team. Other than that, I think we broke ourselves down at the end of the game. We just need to learn how to start finishing games,” Moore said. He had ten points on the night with a pair of three-point shots. 

  McCall had a team high 14 points on the night. He said he knew aggressiveness was going to be a factor in the game.  

  Czar Perry had 13 points on the night. When asked about the team’s mindset to bounce back and get another win, Perry said, “We’ll figure it out. We’ll come to practice, practice hard, and talk as a team to see what we need to do to win.” 

 It was a heartbreaking loss, but the men’s basketball team still has plenty of time to get things right. The ‘Runners next home contest will be against Montana State at on Thursday, Dec. 19 at 7:00 p.m. in the Icardo Center.