For the fourth time this season the Warriors' defense was able to hold their opposition down offensively. But Cal State Stanislaus was not able to recover from a nightmare of a first half in a 64-50 loss to Sonoma State on their home court Friday night.
Reggie Jones scored a career high 21 points, but that accounted for 42 percent of the team's scoring, as the Warriors fell to 1-3 overall and 0-2 in California Collegiate Athletic Association play. Sonoma State snapped a two-game skid to win its first road game and is now 3-2 overall and 1-0 in the CCAA.
"We didn't shoot the ball well and we can contribute a lot of that to Sonoma's defense," CSUS head coach Larry Reynolds said. "They did things that took us out of what we wanted to do. We need to find ways to score some baskets besides Reggie Jones."
During the cold spill on the offensive end for the Warriors during the first half, Jones made the team's first three baskets. Halfway through the first half the Warriors found themselves down 16-6 after shooting 3-for-17 with Jones hitting on three of his five attempts.
By halftime, the Warriors were 6-for-36 for 16.7 percent, including 0-12 from behind the three-point arc. Still, Stanislaus found itself down just 19 points at the break due to its solid defense.
Jones ended up with his second double-digit scoring game after netting 17 points in the opener against Chico State. He was held of last weekend's games at Menlo College due to a neck strain and concussion suffered in the first minute of Friday's contest versus Westmont.
Cal State Stanislaus limited its opponent to a 42 percent field goal percentage or worse for the fourth time — and 64 points for the third time — with its ball pressuring halfcourt defense. Sonoma State had averaged 81.8 points per game with a 52.2 shooting percentage entering the weekend but finished Friday's game 22-for-52 (42.3 percent). SSU also made 42 percent of its three-point tries but was just 4 for 16 Friday in Fitzpatrick Arena.
"Our defense wasn't bad. I thought we gave up about 10 points where we didn't play good defense but we were good with our halfcourt sets. The defense isn't our problem," Reynolds said.
The Warriors got within 13 points several times late in the second half before Sonoma State held on with some free throws down the stretch.
The next top scorer for the Warriors was Dwight Jones who came off the bench for seven points but was in foul trouble all night. Mactar Gueye led the team with seven rebounds.
Matthew French led Sonoma State with 18 points and seven rebounds with Sterling Arterberry chipping in 14 points with four assists.
Humboldt State is the next opponent for Cal State Stanislaus with tipoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. today. HSU, which leads the CCAA with an 88.0 per game average, improved to 5-0 on the year after an 84-81 win in overtime at Chico State Friday night.