By Esteban Ramirez
Sports Editor
After another tough loss for California State University, Bakersfield men’s basketball team in which they lost after being up by double digits, the ’Runners (6-14, 2-3 Western Athletic Conference) responded with a 57-41 road victory over Chicago State University on Jan. 24.
The ’Runners were able to beat the Cougars behind their strong defensive play as they held CSU to 26.7 percent for the whole game.
“That was the key to the game, I thought our guys really got down in their stance and defended,” CSUB head coach Rod Barnes said to gorunners.com. “I was proud of them because we had a lot of guys that played a lot of minutes less than 48 hours ago and bounce back; it’s a great win for us.”
Despite their own struggles shooting the ball, the ’Runners were able to take advantage of their opportunities from the charity stripe. They shot 94.1 percent (16 of 17) from the free-throw line.
Leading the way for the ’Runners were junior center Aly Ahmed with 13 points and eight rebounds. Senior guard Tyrell Corbin also added 13 points and eight rebounds.
On Jan. 22, CSUB built a 12-point lead against the University of Missouri-Kansas City, but thanks to a 17-1 run and being outscored 21-6, the ’Runners fell to the Kangaroos 66-63.
Corbin led the team with 16 points and four rebounds. Ahmed added 15 points and eight rebounds.
CSUB will host Seattle University on Jan. 31.