Box Score

LOS ANGELES – Cal State L.A.'s men's basketball team survived quite a scare from Cal State Monterey Bay Friday night before hanging on for its fourth straight victory.

 

The Golden Eagles put the Otters on the line for three free throws with less than a second left in regulation before escaping with a 60-58 win in a California Collegiate Athletic Association game in the Eagles Nest. Cal State L.A. (9-2, 5-1 CCAA) remains one of four conference teams with only one loss and holds a one-half game lead over Chico State, Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State San Bernardino.

 

Chris Fields battled through a tough shooting night to lead the Golden Eagles with 17 points and six rebounds, while Mark Dorsey came up huge with 13 points and eight rebounds off the bench. Carl Hoffman had 10 points and four rebounds.

 

Dwayne Jones had the big offensive plays for the Golden Eagles down the stretch, hitting a rainbow shot in the lane to give Cal State L.A. a 58-54 lead with 12 seconds left and, after a 3-pointer by Cal State Monterey Bay's Davion Berry, hitting a pair of free throws with four seconds left to make it 60-57.

 

Jones, though, fouled Cal State Monterey Bay's Shaun Williams as he was attempting a potential game-tying 3-pointer with one-tenth of a second remaining. Williams hit the first free throws and, after a Cal State L.A. timeout, missed the second. He then double-clutched before his third attempt, drawing players from both teams into the lane, resulting in a double lane violation. The possession arrow favored the Golden Eagles and Cal State L.A. got the ball inbounds and ended the game.

 

Berry had 13 points to lead three players in double figures for Cal State Monterey Bay (4-7, 2-4 CCAA). Keith Wilson had 10 points and six rebounds, while Sean Jergo had 10 points and four rebounds.

 

Cal State L.A., which is No. 3 in the country in rebounding margin, had a 38-27 advantage over the Otters and also knocked down 11-of-15 from the free-throw line. Cal State L.A. shot 41.1 percent for the game, including 54.5 percent in the second half.

 

Cal State Monterey Bay shot 40.8 percent for the game, but was held to 37 percent shooting in the second half. The Otters made their first 11 attempts from the line until the final miss.

 

Leland Jones had nine points and seven rebounds for the Golden Eagles, while Dwayne Jones had nine points and three assists.

 

The Golden Eagles scored the first seven points of the game, but Cal State Monterey Bay settled into the contest and opened up a 31-27 lead at halftime. The four-point halftime edge was courtesy of a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Derrick Anderson.

 

Cal State Monterey Bay built five-point leads twice in the second half, the final time at 39-34 with 15:17 to go. Cal State L.A., though, responded with an 8-0 run that was punctuated by back-to-back slam dunks by Dorsey and gave the Golden Eagles a 42-39 edge with 12:23 to go.

 

The Otters grabbed their last lead at 51-49 after a jumper by Warren Freeman, but a layup by Fields and a free throw by Dorsey gave the Golden Eagles a 54-51 lead with two minutes remaining.

 

A basket by Hoffman made it 56-51 with 1:19 to go, but Berry hit a 3-pointer to get his team to within two at 56-54 with 52 seconds left. Dwayne Jones then hit his high-arching shot in the lane to boost the advantage to 58-54 with 12 seconds left. Berry then hit another 3-pointer to make it 58-57 with five ticks left. Jones was fouled with four seconds left and made both free throws to make it 60-57, setting the stage for the wild final second.

 

Cal State L.A. will return to action on Saturday night with a home game against San Francisco State.