November 3, 2007

'Runners fail to impress in preseason
BY JEFF EVANS, Californian staff writer

The inexperience of Cal State Bakersfield was evident again Saturday afternoon.

And that's a fact of life that the Roadrunners are going to live with this season, particularly early on.

"We have a total of eight underclassmen in the program and five JC players who have not yet played their first game against a four-year program," said CSUB coach Keith Brown after the team's second straight exhibition loss to a Division II program, this time 80-69 to Alaska-Anchorage.

"We're just now to the point where we have a system in," Brown added. "Our emphasis has been to put a system in, offensively and defensively, then put in the different parts. Now we're getting to teaching the individual pieces."

CSUB was coming off a 76-73 loss on Thursday to San Francisco State. The Roadrunners will take today off, then resume practice Monday in preparation for Friday's season opener at Cal State Fullerton. Neither exhibition game will count toward the teams' won-loss records this season.

"We're young and we need to buy into what the coaches are saying," said Zack Grasmick, a senior in his fourth year with the program, making him the team's most experienced player. "This was a wakeup call. When you don't execute, you don't win. It'll come, once we get some games."

The best stretch by CSUB came late in the first half when defensive intensity fueled a comeback from what had been a 22-8 deficit.

The Roadrunners never led in the game -- it was tied twice, 2-2 and 4-4 -- but the first-half rally pulled CSUB within 31-29 at halftime.

"We pushed up the tempo and made good plays," Brown said. "We had a great flow and we were in sync. But we didn't sustain it."

CSUB came out in the second half and sank only three of its first 11 shots. Anchorage, during that same time, was 9-for-13. The Roadrunners trailed by as many as 18 points before pulling closer over the final few minutes.

The most glaring aspect of the game was interior defense. CSUB gave up too many easy buckets. And on offense, the Roadrunners struggled through a poor shooting night, hitting only 33 percent of their shots. Anchorage, ranked No. 10 in one preseason Division II national poll, shot 62 percent from the field, and nearly 70 percent in the second half.

"We needed to make plays and stops," Brown said. "The team did not guard the ball and guard the post. If you don't do those two things, you're making it very difficult for yourself. And we didn't shoot it well."

Sophomore Trent Blakley had 15 points, including three 3-pointers, for CSUB. Terrence Johns added 10 points but was only 3-of-12 from the field and was 0-for-5 on 3-pointers.

"I just wasn't ready to play Thursday," said Blakley, held to two points vs. San Francisco State. "I did not want to look like that two days in a row."

Anchorage senior forwards Carl Arts (26 points) and McCade Olsen (14) exploited CSUB's defensive shortcomings inside.