By Esteban Ramirez
Assistant Sports Editor
From start to finish, California State University, Bakersfield men’s basketball team controlled the exhibition game against Whittier College as they cruised to a 82-62 victory on Nov. 8 at the Icardo Center.
The ’Runners, who never trailed in the game put forth a dominant effort on the boards as they out-rebounded the Poets 49-32, and had an 18-2 advantage in offensive rebounds. That aggressiveness helped them build a double-digit lead for most of the game.
But despite controlling just about every facet of the game, CSUB felt that there’s still plenty of improvements to be made.
“I give us a C-plus because our defense was terrible tonight,” said redshirt-senior guard Javonte Maynor. “We made great offensive plays here and there, but overall I think we should have A-plus performances every day. That’s the kind of practice we have. We got to have that kind of energy. Guys diving on the floor for balls, guys helping on defense and guys getting out on shooters, so today we were kind of relaxed because the competition was low.”
“We realized that we had a height advantage, so we started going inside and started going into the paint because those guys really couldn’t guard us with the dribble or the penetration. The only thing was that tonight we really killed ourselves. We turned the ball over a lot and missed some lay ups inside.”
Maynor added that they will emphasize and focus on improving their free-throw shooting. The ’Runners shot 38.1 percent from the charity stripe against the Poets.
CSUB started the game on a 19-3 run behind its strong inside play, but the bad night at the free-throw line kept its Division III opponent in the game as they were able to go into halftime only down 39-28.
The ’Runners only shot 40 percent in the first half, but thanks to an offensive spark from Maynor, who scored 19 of his game-high 24 points in the second half, including 15 from behind the three-point line, the ’Runners were able to get going offensively in the second half. They shot 51.4 percent in the second half. The lead never got under double digits in the second half.
“I thought our guys did a good job, especially in the second half,” said CSUB head coach Rod Barnes. “I was disappointed in our defense in the second half. The first half I thought we played the way we needed to play.”
Barnes added that they missed chances at the free-throw line to ice the game.
“We had opportunities there with the game kind of in our hands and we could’ve put away, but we missed too many free throws,” said Barnes. “The second thing is we had some ill advised turnovers. Fourteen is enough, but the ones we had were really bad. We were careless with the basketball not taking care of it like we need to take care of it. I thought we had balanced scoring, we had several guys step up and make shots and that’s a positive.”
Junior center Aly Ahmed finished with 15 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for the ’Runners, and junior forward Kevin Mays added 12 points and 11 rebounds. Junior guard Dashawn Richmond came off the bench and scored 14 points.
“I thought out of 100 percent we did 65,” said Ahmed. “We had chances to perform better, but we didn’t. It’s because it’s our first game, so our chemistry it’s not so good together. A couple more games and I think we will have it down.”
CSUB will play High Point University in the Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic at Honolulu, HI on Nov. 14.
