HAYWARD -- Cal State LA's men's basketball team turned in a second half rally for the ages and earned an opportunity to defend the California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament title the Golden Eagles won last season.

The Golden Eagles, trailing 32-19 at halftime, stormed back from a 17-point deficit with 19 minutes remaining and held off host Cal State East Bay, 68-65, Thursday night in Pioneer Gym. Cal State LA (12-15, 10-11 CCAA) wrapped up the sixth and final spot in next week's CCAA Tournament, which the Golden Eagles won last season for the first time in program history.

Corey Cofield II poured in a career-high 30 points to lead the way, including 26 of Cal State LA's 49 points in the second half. Cofield has scored 20 or more points in five straight games and six of the last seven to spearhead the victory.

It was a must-win game for the Golden Eagles, who came into Thursday's game tied with Cal State East Bay (11-16, 9-12 CCAA). With the other results from Thursday, the winner of the Cal State LA-Cal State East Bay was going to earn the final spot in the tourney.

For awhile, it didn't look great for the Golden Eagles. They managed only 19 first-half points, 13 of them coming from Shane Bell. It looked even bleaker when the Pioneers pushed their lead to 17 points, 36-19, in the first minute of the second half.

The Golden Eagles then unleashed a 43-18 run that gave them an eight-point lead, 62-54, with six minutes to go and they held on for the important win.

Cofield II finished with 30 points and 13 rebounds, while Bell had 17 points and five rebounds. 

DJ Sanders had 18 points to lead four Cal State East Bay players in double figures. Teiano Hardee had 16 points.

Kyjuan Cannady had nine points, all in the second half, for the Golden Eagles, while Jaden Lazo had six points on a pair of 3-pointers.

Cal State LA shot just 37.9 percent for the game (25-of-66) and made just 26.7 percent in the first half (8-of-30). The Golden Eagles were 5-of-17 from 3-point range and 13-of-18 from the free-throw line. Cal State East Bay shot 40.7 percent (24-of-59) and was just 2-of-16 from 3-point range. The Pioneers were 15-of-20 from the free-throw line.

Cal State LA had a 43-39 rebounding edge and committed 15 turnovers to 18 for the Pioneers.

The Golden Eagles didn't take their first lead until a pair of free throws by Cofield II put them ahead, 49-48, with nine minutes remaining. Dominic Escobar followed with a layup to make it 51-48, completing a 23-7 run.

Cofield II then scored five straight points to give the Golden Eagles their biggest lead, 62-54, with six minutes left. Cal State East Bay pulled to within 65-63 with 2:24 to go and neither team scored until Bell hit two free throws for a 67-63 lead with 15 seconds to go that followed a steal by Cofield II with 19 seconds left.

Sanders made a layup with 11 seconds left to make it 67-65 before Chasen Stewart hit the second of two free throw attempts with three seconds left to complete the win.

Cal State LA will conclude the regular season on Saturday at San Francisco State at 3 p.m.