Alexander's 35 points, late basket lift CSUB men over UCD; poor shooting dooms women in loss
Jaden Alexander scored with five seconds left, part of a career-high 35-point performance, to lift the Cal State Bakersfield men’s basketball team to an 81-79 Big West Conference victory Saturday at UC Davis . It was the Roadrunners’ first conference victory in four games and the second time in their last three they’ve won in the closing seconds.
UCD’s Nils Cooper made two free throws with 27 seconds left to tie the game at 79. After a timeout, Alexander took the ball, got the layup for the game-winning shot. Cooper then missed a long three-point shot at the buzzer. Alexander’s game-winning basket was part of his 14 points in the second half.
Prior to Cooper tying it, Kadar Wallar had made two free throws to give the Roadrunners a five-point lead, 79-74, with 38 seconds left. Davis’ Isaiah Chappell made a 3-pointer seven seconds later — his fourth of the game — to cut the lead to two.
CSUB (7-9, 1-3 Big West) had as much as an eight-point lead three times in the second half. A 3-pointer by AJ George gave the Roadrunners a 71-63 lead with 6:36 left. The next time it happened was on a dunk by Pierre Geneste Jr. with 4:50 left for a 73-65 advantage. Ron Jessamy made two free throws with 1:39 left to make it 77-69.
The performance by Alexander, who has started more games this year after playing a valuable reserve role at times last season, was a necessity. Starting guard CJ Hardy played only 18 minutes and was scoreless when he left the game with a foot injury. Jessamy had only eight points and George, who had 20 points, was 7-for-17 shooting in a game CSUB made 41.9% (26-62). Alexander did make four 3-pointers and had a team-high 11 rebounds.
Dailin Smith, who returned in last Thursday’s Big West loss to UC Irvine after being in concussion protocol and scored nine points off the bench, had eight points in 19 minutes, again off the bench Saturday. CSUB played again without injured players, Tom Mark and Caleb McCarty.
Geneste had four points and nine rebounds, but he fouled out late in the game.
Davis (8-6, 1-2) had five players finish in double figures — Chappell led with 15 points, Cooper had 13, Connor Sevilla had 12 and Niko Rocak and Marcus Wilson had 11 apiece.
The Roadrunners, who had won two games prior to re-entering Big West play on New Year’s Day, will next host UC Riverside at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.
CSUB Women’s Basketball
Poor shooting again doomed the Roadrunner women, who lost their fourth straight Big West Conference game and a third straight home conference game, 69-59, to UC Davis on Saturday in the Icardo Center.
Nya Epps scored 28 points and Megan Norris had 15 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Aggies (10-4 overall, 3-0 Big West). UCD had as much as a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter.
CSUB’s Marley Langi and Chrishawn Coleman each had 15 points and Morgan Hawkins added 10. Hawkins had a 3-pointer and a two-pointer to get CSUB as close as four, 63-59, with 3:36 left in the game, but the team did not score again. CSUB missed its last seven shots, including four from 3-point range.
The Roadrunners (5-9, 0-4) took 71 shots, making only 23. Langi and Coleman were 6 of 18 and 6 of 22, respectively. Maria Dias, who had eight points, was 3-of-11 shooting. CSUB did have a 13-5 advantage on offensive rebounds, but UCD still kept CSUB at bay under the basket with 35 defensive rebounds.
Langi and Tena Ikidi each had nine rebounds for CSUB.
The Roadrunners resume Big West play at 6 p.m. Thursday at UC Riverside, but return to the Icardo Center for a 2 p.m. Saturday game against Long Beach State.
