Andy Cleaves had not yet turned 11 years old when the last time a Warrior went off on a scoring spree like he did Wednesday night. The now 21-year-old guard scored 35 points during Stanislaus State's regular season and conference opener as the Warriors beat Cal State San Bernardino, 96-91, in a fast pace game.
Cleaves drained seven three-pointers — and had 13 points seven minutes into the game — en route to a performance that no one has seen at Stan State in more than a decade. He was 11 of 16 from the field and made 7 of 10 three-point tries en route to 35 points, the most scored by a Warrior since Cameron Quick scored 38 on Feb. 2, 2007 against UC San Diego. Yup. It's been nearly 11 years.
Another huge accomplishment was posted by Ty Davis, who recorded a triple-double with 12 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds. It is the first time a Warrior chalked up a triple-double since March 8, 2003 when Ira Taylor scored 20 points, pulled 11 rebounds and handed-off 10 assists against, yes, Cal State San Bernardino.
The Warriors began the year 3-0 for the first time since the 2013-14 season, the year they finished 23-9 and went as far as the West Region championship game.
On Wednesday, the pace of the game was established early. Teams combined to make 13 of the game's first 16 tries in the first five minutes of action. Both teams also drilled three-pointers. In the first six minutes of the contest, the game saw nine successful three-pointers. By the end of the night, teams combined for 28 three-pointers on 76 attempts.
Three other Warriors also scored in double digits with Xavier Francois putting in 13 points while Vida Faniel and Kaelen Mitchell each chipped in 10. Francois also pulled nine rebounds as the Warriors out-rebounded CSUSB, 43-32 with 12 on offense.
Stan State established a little bit of a lead after the third tie by going on a 15-5 run that started midway through the first half. The spurt stretched the lead to 40-31 with 5:33 to play. However, the Coyotes responded by making four three-pointers in the next three minutes of play to pull within one at 46-45.
In the second half, Justin Frazier nailed a trey at 10:56 to make it 68-56, but that was as close as CSUSB would get. back-to-back three-pointers by Cleaves and Faniel made it 74-65 and two mini-runs of six points by the Warriors eventually extended their advantage to 14, 88-74 with 2:08 remaining.
Ajon Efferon led six Coyotes (1-2, 0-1 CCAA) in double figures in scoring with 19 points. Jacardo Hawkins chipped in 16 points.
The Warriors will next host Cal Poly Pomona at 5 p.m. today in Fitzpatrick Arena.
Stanislaus women fall in CCAA home opener to San Bernardino
To open its home CCAA schedule for the 2017-18 season, the Stanislaus State women's basketball team hosted Cal State San Bernardino, falling to the Coyotes 72-60 at Ed & Bertha Fitzpatrick Arena on Wednesday night.
The Warriors fought with CSUSB for the first CCAA victory of the season, but came up empty handed and are now 1-2 overall and 0-1 in conference. The Coyotes are now 2-1 overall and 1-0 in league.
Zahria Hendrix and Erika Larsen shared the scoring lead for Stan State with 14 points apiece, and Caprina Pipion backed them up with 12 points. Kaitlin Dadalt was the leading rebounder for the Stanislaus with eight rebounds and three more Warriors had four or more rebounds. Larsen had seven rebounds and Brittney Livingston and Letty Infante each had four rebounds.
Once again Hendrix led the team in assists, with four assists for her team. Pipion was aggressive on defense against the Coyotes with five steals for the Warriors.
Stan State stayed in the game to begin the first quarter before four consecutive shots by the Coyotes gave them a seven-point lead heading into the second quarter. Outscoring CSUSB 16 to 14 in the second quarter, the Warriors decreased the gap by two going into half time.
Stanislaus struggled to keep up in the second half, with 13 turnovers to aid the Coyotes. Warrior free-throw shooting improved immensely after half time, Pipion going 4-for-5 from the line and Livingston and Lizzy Alexander banking their two shots taken.
Stan State shot 30 percent as a team from the field, 21.7 percent from the three-point arc, and 68.4 percent from the free-throw line. Improving their shooting efficiency in the second half, Stan State was 8-for-9 (8.9 percent) from the free-throw line in the second half.
Sabrea Coleman led the Coyotes with 17 points, and Kaitlyn Parks scored 14 points going 7-for-7 from the field. Ashley Carson and Lun Junious-Reliford led CSUSB with eight rebounds each, and Coleman and Genaya Wilkinson had seven rebounds apiece. The Coyotes shot 41.5 percent from the field as a team.
Stan State will be back at home today to host another CCAA matchup at Ed & Bertha Fitzpatrick Arena. The Warriors will host Cal Poly Pomona in a day game starting at 3 p.m.
