Dec. 19, 2007

Box Score

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Western Washington University led much of the game, but driving baskets by guards Marlon Pierce and Lance Ortiz in the final 90 seconds lifted nationally ranked Cal State San Bernardino to a 71-65 victory in final-day men's basketball action Wednesday at the second annual Great Western Shootout held at Centennial Hills Center.

The host Vikings fell to 7-2 with the loss, snapping a seven-game winning streak. Their only other loss was also to Cal State San Bernardino, 74-68, on Nov. 16 at the Seattle Pacific Tip-Off Classic. Western defeated Cal Poly Pomona, 73-64, on Tuesday.

CSUSB, rated No.10 in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches NCAA Division II Top 25 Poll, won the Great Western Shootout for the second straight year. The Coyotes, 9-1, defeated Central Washington, 83-60, on Tuesday.

With the game tied at 65-all, Pierce scored with 1:27 left to put CSUSB in front. Western guard Ira Graham (Jr., Fontana, CA), who had a game-high 22 points, then was ruled to have stepped out of bounds driving the left baseline, and Ortiz hit with 27 seconds to play, giving the Coyotes a 69-65 lead and effectively putting the game out of reach. Ortiz made two free throws with 1.2 seconds left for the final margin.

Western led for nearly 25 straight minutes at one point, but after CSUSB used a run of seven points to take a 51-47 lead with 11:09 to play, there were six ties and eight lead changes in the final 10 minutes.

The final tie came at 65-65 when Western's Derrick Webb (Jr., Port Orchard/South Kitsap) hit two free throws with 1:51 left.

Center Michael Earl led the Coyotes with 16 points and a game-high six blocked shots. Pierce added 10 points and had a team-high eight rebounds.

Forward Calin Schell (Jr., Chelan) had 12 points for Western, and forward Steve Alford (Jr., Bakersfield, CA/South) added 11 points and dished out a game-high six assists. The Vikings had a 35-27 edge in rebounds, with center Steve Severin (So., Richland/Hanford) grabbing a game-high nine, but committed 19 turnovers to nine for CSUSB.

Western hit 10 of its first 13 shots to take a 20-13 lead a little over eight minutes into the game, and eventually opened up a 13-point margin, 32-19, on a 3-pointer by Graham with 8:33 left in the half. But CSUSB responded with nine straight points, and the Viking lead was just three at halftime, 37-34.

Graham, who led Western in scoring for the 12th straight game, had 16 points at halftime, hitting 7-of-10 shots as Western shot 54.8 percent (17-of-31) from the field in the opening period.

Earl was named tournament MVP. Pierce, Graham and Schell were also on the all-tourney team, as were Larry Gordon of Cal Poly Pomona and Jake Beitinger of Central Washington. It was the third all-tournament selection this season for Graham and his second straight pick to the Great Western Shootout all-tourney squad.

Western has a 15-day break before opening Great Northwest Athletic Conference play at Northwest Nazarene on Thursday, Jan. 3. The Crusaders are off to an 8-0 start.

Coyotes top Western Washington, lose favor at Shootout

by Michelle Gardner, San Bernardino Sun Staff Writer

LAS VEGAS - The Cal State San Bernardino men's basketball team has not been invited back to the Great Western Shootout in Las Vegas. The fact the Coyotes keep beating up on the host teams might have something to do with it.

The No. 10 Coyotes turned in another strong performance Wednesday night, upending Western Washington 71-65 at the Centennial Hills Center behind the play of tournament Most Valuable Player Michael Earl. That came one night after they routed the other host team, Central Washington, 83-60.

"They said there was some sort of miscommunication. They didn't think we wanted to come back," said coach Jeff Oliver, who will be looking to start his own event to be held the same time next year.

Not only have the Coyotes beaten both teams in successive years, they also beat Western Washington in its season opener in another tournament in Seattle in early November. The Coyotes (9-1) have handed the Vikings (7-2) both their losses.

But both teams played better basketball in the most recent meeting.

The Vikings came out quicker and were up by 13 at 32-19 with 8:33 to go. It was Fontana native Ira Graham igniting the charge, with 16 of his 22 in the opening half.

"We seem to have some lapses, and tonight we started with one," Earl said. "They came out pretty amped up and we weren't. We didn't come out with the same energy we had. But we thought if we could stay close, we would get them once we settled down and started playing our game."

The Coyotes battled back and only trailed by three at the half, 37-34.

It was nip and tuck the rest of the way, with each team's biggest lead of the half being three points. The game was knotted five times, the last at 65 with 1:51 to go after two free throws by Lance Ortiz.

Cal State went up for good moments later, on a driving layup by Marlon Pierce with 1:27 to go. On the ensuing possession, Graham took the ball and dribbled baseline but was called for stepping on the end line with 1:01 left.

"I really thought I was pushed out," said Graham, who made the six-player all-tournament team. "But that's not an excuse. That's how basketball goes. We just made some mistakes down the stretch that hurt us."

The Coyotes capitalized, with Ortiz working time off the clock, then going base line for a layup that gave Cal State a 69-65 edge with 24 seconds remaining.

Western Washington's Harold McAllister set up for a 3-pointer on the next Vikings possession, but his shot was batted away by Jason Gilzene with 13 seconds left. Ortiz knocked down a couple free throws to put the game away.