CARSON – The Cal State Dominguez Hills men's basketball team moved themselves closer to a postseason berth.
 
The Toros had to hold their breath for a moment when Stanislaus State got to within two with nearly six seconds left, but senior Deondre Otis got a pair of critical free throws to make it a 78-74 win over the Warriors on Senior Night at the Torodome Saturday.
 
Dominguez Hills' (12-15) win not only improves the ballclub to 9-11 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), but more importantly it keeps them in the tight race for a spot to the conference tournament beginning next week.
 
The Toros currently hold a one-game lead for the eighth and final spot to the tournament over rival Cal State LA, which was idle in conference play tonight after having played Stanislaus State on Thursday. The win also brings the Toros to within a game behind the down-falling Warriors (15-11, 10-10 CCAA) for the seventh seed and now owns the tiebreaker over them. 
 
With two games remaining, the Toros will play those on the road starting Thursday at UC San Diego.
 
Another big highlight of the night was senior Jamell McMillan. The transfer from Compton College spent last season as a team manager and ended up as part of the starting five tonight. He scored six points which were on back-to-back 3's in 55 seconds.


 
Freshman Malcolm Johnson led all Toros with 21 points and was a rebound shy from a double-double. Amongst the remaining senior class, Glenn Baral had 14, Khalil Bedart-Ghani had eight, Jonathan Nichols had eight and Matt Hayes had three whiles being limited to seven minutes of playing time. Nichols did have 10 assists to lead that category.
 
Both teams shot better than 45 percent from the field. The Warriors (15-11, 10-10 CCAA) did hold a 36-32 edge in rebounding.
 
The Toros had led for nearly the entire game. They had built a 20-point lead 4:30 into the second half. But the period truly belonged to the Warriors as they outscored the Toros 50-41.
 
Stanislaus State got to within four points under a minute remaining. The Toros stayed in front with help from the free throws, going a perfect 4-for-4 during that span.