CARSON –
Jonathan Nichols scored a career-high 28 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Cal State Dominguez Hills men's basketball team got back in the win column with a 78-72 victory over Humboldt State at the Torodome Saturday night.
The two teams split the season meetings with each team taking a win at their respective home floor.
Although Nichols and
Mikey Hatfield, who scored a dozen points, were the only Toros (9-14, 6-10 CCAA) to reach double figures, the Toros combined for a 45.5 shooting percentage, including five 3-pointers.
Rebounding continues to haunt the Toros as the Jacks (6-15, 5-11 CCAA) dominated that column, 47-34. Jack Kaub made six of his 10 total boards on the offensive end to go along with his team-best 17 points.
It was a tight battle all throughout the first half as neither team led by more than five points. Hatfield made the final two layups to send the Toros to the locker room with a 34-32 lead.
Dominguez Hills had the best momentum in the game five minutes into the second half, when it started on an 11-0 run to build a 45-32 lead. The Toros got six of those points on the free throw line.
Humboldt State did respond with a 12-point surge to cut the deficit down to three just over the halfway mark. The Toros maintained that lead with help from the free throw line, going 14-for-15 within latter half of the period.
The Toros will enter the final month of the regular season on the outside looking in within the CCAA standings, trailing Sonoma State for the eighth and final spot to the conference tournament by half of a game with six remaining, starting Saturday against crosstown rival Cal State LA at 7:30 p.m. The Golden Eagles escaped with a 93-90 overtime win in Los Angeles earlier in the month.
