Dominguez Hills Hits a Low Point in 50-37 Loss

The Cal State Dominguez Hills men’s basketball team suffered a humiliating 50-37 loss to Cal State Bakersfield in a California Collegiate Athletic Assn. game Saturday night at Carson.

It was Dominguez Hills’ lowest scoring game since 1989, when the Toros lost, 45-42 in overtime, to Cal State L.A.

“(Bakersfield) played excellent defense,” Dominguez Hills Coach Dave Yanai said. “It was a combination of that and what I thought was us missing some good shots.”

The Toros made only 28% of their shots and only one of their players, guard Raymond Bennett, scored in double figures (14). Forwards John Brown and Michael Moore had seven points each.

Dominguez Hills fell to 11-8 overall and 3-3 in the CCAA. Bakersfield, which is tied with UC Riverside for first place in the league, improved to 16-3 and 5-1.

“A lot of times we just threw the ball away,” Yanai said. “That just puts such severe pressure on our defense.”

The Toros did a good job defensively, limiting the Roadrunners well under their 75-point average. The Toros have held opponents to an average of 64 points with their fierce man-to-man defense.

Bakersfield struggled against the Toro defense, often using much of the 45-second shot clock. Forward Fred Eckles and center Beau Redstone were the only Roadrunners to score in double figures. Eckles, a 6-foot-2 senior was the game’s high scorer with 17 points and Redstone, a 6-5 senior, had 10.

“Dominguez Hills is a good defensive team,” Bakersfield Coach Pat Douglass said. “We had to earn our points. We really had to be creative and we had to wait for our shots.”

It was a low-scoring and sloppy first half in which the Toros shot a only 27% from the field. Dominguez Hills didn’t make a field goal for than 10 minutes. Bennett ended the shooting slump with a 17-foot jump shot, but the Roadrunners led, 25-17, at halftime.

The Toros came within two (27-25) in the opening minutes of the second half, but the Roadrunners went on a 13-0 run that put them ahead, 40-25, with 9 minutes 29 seconds left to play.

Dominguez Hills never came closer than 13 after that. Toro junior forward Vincent Washington fouled out with 10:41 remaining and Brown fouled out with 19 seconds left.

“I thought they had good shooters,” Douglass said. “We had to stay alert. They really have a nice ball club. They’ll be one of the top four teams in this league.”

The Toros defeated Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 68-64, on Friday.