CSUDH Men's Basketball Weekly Release
January 29, 2002

THIS WEEK IN CSUDH MEN'S BASKETBALL
Feb. 1 CSUDH vs. UC Davis The Torodome, 7:30 pm
Feb. 2 CSUDH vs. Chico State The Torodome, 7:30 pm

WHAT'S ON TAP: CSUDH enters the week with a 5-12 overall record and a 4-8 mark in CCAA play. The Toros are coming off a home-and-home two game series sweep over crosstown rival Cal State LA, including earning their first road win of the 2001-02 season. The squad will continue the season-long five-game homestand this week with games against UC Davis and Chico State.

TOROS SWEEP SEASON SERIES OVER CAL STATE LA: Senior center Kevin Blunt's 18 points and 11 rebounds led the Toros to a 72-67 CCAA win over Cal State LA on Saturday night in the Torodome. The win gave the Toros the two-game season series sweep over their crosstown rival. CSUDH took a 39-35 lead into the intermission after shooting a blazing 58% from the field in the first half led by Blunt's 14 points on 6-7 shooting from the floor. The Toros opened the second period with a 15-8 to take an 11-point lead 54-43 with 12:36 remaining in the game. During the run, junior forward Michael Crawford scored seven of the Toros points. Cal State LA answered with a small 5-2 run capped by consecutive baskets by Jonathan Levy making it 56-48 with 9:31 left. Cal State Dominguez Hills opened the lead to 12 points over the next two minutes taking a 62-50 lead capped on a dunk by Crawford with 7:02 remaining. The CSLA defense would hold the Toros offense scoreless over the next two and a half minutes and trimmed the lead to 62-55 on a free throw by Ronald Johnson with 4:23 on the clock. Both teams would trade baskets over the next two minutes before Kenjiro Hongo's layup with 1:30 remaining made it a two point ballgame 68-66. However, in the Toros next possession, senior guard Jacob Poole hit a 12-foot jumper to give the home team a four-point cushion with just over a minute left. After a CSUDH foul, Ronald Johnson went to the line and converted one of two shots to trim the Toro lead to 70-67 with :50-seconds remaining. Ernie Burries would seal the game for Cal State Dominguez Hills making two free throws with :19-seconds left for the final 72-67 result. Kevin Blunt and Jacob Poole each poured in 18 points to pace the Toros attack. Michael Crawford answered his 27 point performance on Wednesday night with 15 points tonight. Junior forward Justin Goree also scored in double figures with 11 points, all of them in the first half. Blunt registered his fifth double-double of the year with a game-high 11 rebounds.

TOROS GAIN FIRST ROAD WIN OF YEAR: Cal State Dominguez Hills used hot shooting in the first half and withstood a couple of Golden Eagle runs in the second half to knock off Cal State L.A. on Wednesday night in the Eagles Nest, 77-74. The Toros never trailed in the game, opening the scoring with a jumper by Michael Crawford on CSUDH's initial possession. The CSUDH lead opened up to as much as 23-6 on an Ernie Burries three-pointer with 6:59 left in the period. They would lead by 16 points (36-20) at the break. The Toros hit a torrid 53.3 percent (16-30) from the field in the first half while CSLA managed just 23.1 percent (6-26). The Golden Eagles rallied in the second half, going on a 14-0 run, culminating on a Ricky Smith three-pointer with 14:30 left, to close the gap to five points at 39-34. CSUDH slowly pushed the lead back to 14 points at 65-51 on an Earl Rowland dunk with 6:30 remaining in the game. CSLA rallied again, this time getting a dunk by Jonathan Levy with 3:02 left to trim the deficit to 67-61. The margin was just two points (73-71) after a Ronald Johnson jumper with 29 seconds left. After a foul, Rowland was fouled and connected on both free throws for a 75-71 score. CSLA failed to score on their possession, and Crawford found himself open for a dunk on the opposite end of the floor to seal the win for Cal State Dominguez Hills. Michael Crawford paced CSUDH with 27 points and six boards while Jacob Poole (22 points, 6 rebounds) and Kevin Blunt (11 points, 6 rebounds) also scored in double figures for the Toros.

POOLE NAMED RAWLINGS/CCAA PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Point guard Jacob Poole was named the Rawlings/CCAA Men's Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 21 - 27 as announced by the league office. Poole, a 5-9 senior, led the Toros to a two-game series sweep of crosstown rival Cal State LA last week with a pair of stellar performances. He scored 22 points, grabbed 6 rebounds and dished out a game-high 5 assists as the Toros edged CSLA on the road 77-74. Three days later, Poole's all-around effort lifted CSUDH to a 72-67 win over CSLA. He scored a team-high 18 points and added a game-high 7 assists, 3 steals, 3 rebounds and blocked a shot in the win. The block came at a crucial point in the game and just prior to Poole's 12-foot fade away jumper with a man in his face that gave the Toros an insurmountable four-point lead with less than a minute left.

SCOUTING UC DAVIS: UC Davis enters the week in fourth place in the CCAA with a 7-5 conference record and a 10-7 overall mark. The Aggies are coming off being swept by Chico State last week 103-87 and 72-68. Junior center Jess McElree leads a trio of players averaging in double figures with 17.1 ppg. Junior Dominic Callori follows with 12.5 ppg and a team-high 11.0 rpg. Senior Brent Wyse is averaging 11.7 ppg and shooting a team-best .521 from 3-point land. As a team, UCD is shooting .465 from the floor and a CCAA-best .437 from beyond the 3-point arc.

ABOUT CHICO STATE: The Wildcats enter the week in last place in the CCAA but have been on a roll lately. Chico broke out of a 10-game losing streak with a two-game sweep over UC Davis last week. Freshman guard Scott Land leads the team averaging 16.4 ppg. Land is shooting an impressive .454 from 3-point range. No other Chico player is averaging in double figures offensively. Defensively, the Wildcats are led on the boards by junior center MacKenzie Dent and freshman center Will Bonner who are grabbing 5.8 and 5.0 rpg.

LEADING THE TOROS: Senior point guard Jacob Poole leads a quartet of CSUDH players in double figures averaging 18.7 ppg. Poole also paces the squad with 30 steals and dishing out a team-best 5.1 assists per game. Kevin Blunt is second on the team averaging 16.8 ppg and leads the team in rebounding grabbing 8.4 rpg. Freshman Earl Rowland is scoring at a 10.9 ppg clip while junior forward Michael Crawford is knocking in 10.6 ppg. As a team, the Toros are shooting .445 from the field while holding their opponents to .428 from the floor.

CRAWFORD IS NO PHANTOM, HAS BIG WEEK: Junior forward Michael Crawford put together strong back-to-back games to help fuel the Toros to two wins last week. In the 77-74 win in Los Angeles over Cal State LA, Crawford was nearly un-stoppable pouring in a career-high 27 points on 12-16 shooting while also grabbing six rebounds. On Saturday night in the Toros 72-67 win over CSLA in the Torodome, Crawford chipped in 15 points on 6-8 from the field. For the week, he shot 18-24 for a whopping .750 shooting percentage.

BLUNT RECORDS ANOTHER DOUBLE DOUBLE: Senior center Kevin Blunt registered his fifth double-double of the season scoring a team-high 18 points on Saturday against Cal State LA and grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds against the Golden Eagles. The total ranks him fourth in the conference.

Current CCAA Season Standings

HEAD COACH LARRY HAUSER Coach Hauser begins his fifth season on the sidelines for Cal State Dominguez Hills. Hauser has compiled a 34-70 career record in four seasons on the Carson campus. During his first campaign in the 1997-98 season, Hauser led the Toros to a second place league finish.

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