The rotation for Thursday night's game against Cal Poly didn't proceed quite how Cal State Bakersfield coach Rod Barnes had drawn it up.
With two point guards already out due to injury, and scoring leader Kaleb Higgins leaving early with an ailment of his own, Ivan Reynolds had to lead the Roadrunners' offense for nearly half an hour without subbing out.
Forwards Travis Henson (out with a sore knee) and Modestas Kancleris (who played just six minutes) also missed time for CSUB Thursday, meaning that freshmen Cedquavious Hunter, Ugnius Jarusevicius and Kaseem Watson received unusually prominent playing time.
Somehow, this added up to the Roadrunners' most complete performance in over a month, and their ninth straight win over Cal Poly.
After significant second-half slumps in its last four losses, CSUB held the Mustangs to 36 percent shooting after the break, including 17 percent from beyond the arc, keeping them at arm's length throughout on the way to a 61-51 victory at the Icardo Center.
"I think our kids kind of got to the point where they were tired of the second half, and playing well in (just) the first half," Barnes said. "And I thought we had a lot more focus than what we've been having."
Shooting guard Marvin McGhee III continued his steady improvement on offense to lead all players with 15 points, including a trio of early 3-pointers. He then helped sustain the offense in the second half as one player after another dropped.
"(Coach is) saying I need to be more vocal and a bigger scorer than what I have been the previous games, so I just thought it was the time for me to lock in and take us home," McGhee said.
Antavion Collum tallied his first career double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
"I think it started on defense, with me playing the defense that I was playing, it was putting me in good positions to get rebounds and block shots," Collum said.
Collum was one of several post players charged with limiting Cal Poly's leading scorer Alimamy Koroma, a strong forward who had given the Roadrunners trouble in the Icardo Center last year. This time around, Koroma managed just six points and seven rebounds, playing only 21 minutes.
"I don't think he liked to be touched," Collum said, "so I was just being physical with him and seeing if he liked the physicality, and he really didn't like it, so he was just going away."
And for the first time in three Big West Conference games this year, stopping the opponent's star player was enough, as CSUB improved to 5-9 (1-2 Big West).
"What we didn't do tonight was allow some of the other guys to have great nights," Barnes said.
Kobe Sanders managed 14 points, eight of which came late in the second half as the Roadrunners were trying to close out the game. No one else scored in double figures for Cal Poly.
Meanwhile, CSUB's Cameron Smith had 13 points, coming off the bench for the first time all year, and the freshman Hunter added 10.
Hunter sank a key 3-pointer that boosted the Roadrunners' lead back to 48-36 when it looked like the Mustangs were gaining momentum and pushing CSUB into foul trouble with 7:30 remaining. Sanders got Cal Poly as close as six points with a deep 3 of his own five minutes later, but Hunter got behind the Mustangs' press and sprinted for a transition layup to provide some breathing room.
The Roadrunners scored their final 12 points on free throws.
It was an unusual game offensively for the Roadrunners in that they typically shoot fewer 3-pointers than almost anyone else in the nation, but built a 23-13 lead early off five 3s, the three from McGhee and two from Higgins. Collum fought through two defenders for a tough up-and-under entering halftime to widen CSUB's margin to 29-16.
It looked momentarily like the Roadrunners might fall behind again, as a pair of quick fouls led to a quick 7-2 stretch for Cal Poly, but the Mustangs didn't have much more juice on offense than that, making just one field goal in the following seven minutes.
CSUB will now turn its attention to playing UC Davis at University Credit Union Center on Saturday, with the statuses of at least four players uncertain.
"We'll go with what we got and give it our all and hopefully figure out a way to get back here with a win," Barnes said.
