Box Score

TURLOCK -- One night after letting one slip away, Cal State L.A.'s men's basketball team made sure to secure a victory on Saturday night.

The Golden Eagles used a stingy defense and some clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch to hold off Cal State Stanislaus, 51-44, Saturday night in a California Collegiate Athletic Association game in Warrior Arena. Cal State L.A. (11-5, 7-4 CCAA) remained in a three-way tie for third place in the conference and closed to within two games of first-place Cal State San Bernardino.

Cal State L.A., which lost a late lead in a 62-61 defeat Friday at Chico State, led from start to finish on Saturday thanks to an outstanding defensive effort. The Golden Eagles limited Cal State Stanislaus to just 24.1 shooting. That defensive performance was necessary because Cal State L.A. came out on the short end of the rebounding battle, 36-27, and committed 20 turnovers.

The Golden Eagles shot 50 percent from the floor and bounced back from some poor free-throw shooting early by hitting some big free throws down the stretch to make sure the Warriors (8-8, 4-7 CCAA) could not rally. Cal State L.A. was 10-of-18 from the free-throw line and, after a 2-of-8 start, hit eight of 10 attempts in the final five minutes of the game.

Dwayne Jones and Chris Fields scored 13 points each to lead the way, while Leland Jones added 10 points.

Prince Abidoye and Chad Johnson had nine points each for Cal State Stanislaus.

Fields hit a 3-pointer to open the game for the Golden Eagles and Cal State L.A. never trailed. The Golden Eagles got back-to-back baskets from Leland Jones to open up a quick 7-1 advantage and Cal State L.A. took its biggest lead of the opening period at 21-9 after a basket by Nuno Furtado with 8:42 left in the half. The Golden Eagles saw that lead sliced to five points and ultimately settled for a 25-17 halftime lead.

Cal State Stanislaus scored the first four points of the second half to make it 25-21, but the Golden Eagles responded with a 9-0 run to open up their biggest lead of the game, 34-21. Dwayne Jones started the spurt with a basket and Leland Jones followed with one to make it 29-21. After Mark Dorsey hit one of two free throws, Leland Jones scored again and Furtado added an inside basket to give Cal State L.A. a 13-point lead.

The Warriors rallied once again and cut the margin to five points after Johnson was fouled shooting a 3-pointer and made all three free throws and Abidoye drained a 3-pointer to make it 34-29. Dwayne Jones came back with a 3-pointer for the Golden Eagles to restore order.

Cal State Stanislaus got to within four points twice, at 41-37 and again at 43-39, but a steal by Leland Jones led to a layup by Fields to boost the advantage back to 45-39 with two minutes to go. Dorsey hit one free throw, Dwayne Jones and Fields hit two free throws each and Jones hit another free throw down the stretch to give the Golden Eagles a 51-41 lead in the waning seconds.

Furtado and Dorsey wound up with six points each for the Golden Eagles.

Cal State L.A. will host three games next week in the Eagles Nest, beginning with a battle Wednesday with Cal State Dominguez Hills.