Box Score ONTARIO -- Cal State L.A.'s men's basketball team saw its season come to a difficult end Thursday in the opening round of the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championship Tournament

The Gloden Eagles did enough defensively to win, but missed free throws and missed opportunities in the second half contributed to a 58-52 loss to Cal State Stanislaus at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario. Cal State L.A. (15-12), the No. 5 seed, limited the No. 4 seeds to just 34.1 percent shooting, but the Golden Eagles shot just slightly better at 37.3 percent. 

Cal State L.A. held a 24-21 halftime lead, but was outscored, 37-28, in the second half.

Cal State Stanislaus (19-8) advances to face No. 1 seed Cal State San Bernardino in a semi-final game on Friday at noon.

Duce Zaid had a game-high 21 points and six rebounds, while James Tillman had 11 points and five rebounds.

Rob Walters had 17 points and 14 rebounds for the Warriors, who also got 11 points each from Marcus Bell, Shey Mataele and Chris Read.

The Golden Eagles were 19-of-51 from the floor and knocked down only 3-of-13 from 3-point range. The Warriors were just 14-of-41 from the floor and made only 1-of-7 from behind 3-point range.

The biggest difference of the game came from the free-throw line, where Cal State L.A. was just 11-of-22, including just 7-of-15 in the second half. Cal State Stanislaus was 29-of-37 and 22-of-27 in the second half.

"I thought we played hard enough to win the game," Cal State L.A. Head Coach Stephen Thompson said. "I liked how our team executed what we worked on in practice and had in our gameplan. We just came up short; that happens sometimes in the sport of basketball."

Zaid said he admired the effort of the Golden Eagles and echoed his coach's thoughts about missed opportunities.

"It was beautiful," he said of the effort. "Everyone played hard and I thought we played a good game. Unfortunately, we just came up a little short."

The Golden Eagles led for the nearly the entire first half, but couldn't get much separation from the Warriors. A 3-pointer by Quinton Watkins gave the Golden Eagles an 11-5 lead six minutes into the game and a 3-pointer by Zaid put the Golden Eagles ahead, 21-15, with 4:23 to go. A pair of free throws by Tillman pushed the lead to 24-19 and Cal State L.A. settled for a 24-21 halftime lead.

A basket by Adarryl Thomas gave the Golden Eagles their final lead, 35-34, with 14:50 to play, but a 14-2 run by the Warriors over a seven-minute stretch gave Cal State Stanislaus a 48-37 edge with 7:36 to go.

Cal State L.A. closed to within 48-45 after a pair of Joshua Munzon free throws with 4:53 remaining and a 3-pointer by Zaid made it 52-48 with 2:53 remaining.

The Golden Eagles still trailed by only five points and a block by Tillman led to a 3-point attempt by Watkins that looked like it was in before popping back out, keeping the score at 53-48 with 50 seconds remaining. Cal State Stanislaus hit 5-of-6 from the free-throw line in the final 47 seconds to secure the win.

Cal State L.A. completed its fourth consecutive winning season and was making its fifth straight CCAA Championship Tournament appearance.

Tillman, Watkins and Solomon Singer completed their careers with the tournament appearance.

"We fought today," Thompson said. "Our shots were just not going in. It's tough to win a tournament game when you shoot 37 percent. Our guys who are returning will have to get back to work and give themselves a chance to come back."