Golden Eagles Escape Torodome With 63-56 Win

Box Score

CARSON, Calif. -- In a battle between two schools both riding two-game winning streaks, something had to give. In tonight's match-up between cross-town rival Cal State L.A., rebounds were the difference as the Golden Eagles trumped the Toros by 10 en route to a hard-fought 63-56 win tonight in the Torodome. Michael Cox led the Toros with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field.

After an old-fashioned 3-point play by Cox started the scoring, the visitors quickly took control with a 8-1 run, increasing its edge to 14-7 on a Dwayne Jones triple at the 10:44 mark.

A Cox jumper and James Cawthorne jam brought CSUDH's deficit to just two minutes later as the Toros used that momentum to come within one on a pair of Cawthorne freebies, and regain the lead on a Tim McLaurin trey at the 5:39 mark, giving CSUDH a 18-16 advantage.

The visitors, however, used an 8-4 run to close the half, using a Jones jumper with three ticks remaining in the half to enter the locker room up 26-22.

It was more of the same in the second half as a Leland Jones bucket stretched CSULA's lead to 28-22, before another 3-point play from Cox started a 9-2 run that saw CSUDH again retake the lead at 31-30 on a Robert Willhite lay-in.

The Golden Eagles, however, soared to a 45-37 lead after two 3-pointers, and a thunderous Jones dunk with 11:52 left in regulation, increasing their edge to as much as 14 at 39-53 on a Chris Fields jumper five minutes later.

CSUDH had one last gasp after whittling its deficit to just 60-56 with eight seconds left and the front end of a one-and-one, but a miss, a CSUDH foul and two CSULA makes at the other end sealed the Toros fate in the 7-point loss, bringing CSULA to 8-2, 4-1 CCAA.

McLaurin chipped in 16 points and 5 boards, while Cawthorne added 9 points and 6 rebounds. Jones led all scorers with 21 pionts while Fields contributed 17 in CSULA's win.

As a team, the Toros shot just 26.1% in the first half and 40.0% for the game, compared to CSULA's 42.9% first-half success rate, and 50.0% overall.

The Toros, now 2-8, 2-3 CCAA, continue CCAA play this weekend as San Francisco State and Cal State Monterey Bay visit Carson, with first tip for both contests set for 7:30 pm in the Torodome.

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