Halftime: Humboldt 37, Cal State S.B. 35
High-energy game. Lots of up and down at full speed. Which sounds about right for a game involving teams tied for the CCAA lead.
Not particularly stylistic, though. Lots of contact, especially in the lane. Fourteen fouls in the half; probably should have been more.
Cal State has taken 10 more shots, made eight fewer turnovers (11-3) and has a rebounding advantage (16-14).
But Humboldt is ahead because it has shot 15 free throws to Cal State's five (including two on a technical foul on Cal State coach Jeff Oliver) ... and because far more of its shots have been in the paint.
Grayson Moyer has 15 points for Humboldt, but the guy who seems to be imposing his will on the game is Humboldt's 6-9 senior center Ty Vandermeer, who has nine points, five rebounds and three blocks. He is taking away the middle. Humboldt has very nice interior passing, too.
Michael Earl, Cal State's 6-9 center, was scoring points right with Vandermeer early, including a pair of effortless dunks, but he got his second foul halfway through the first 20 minutes and went to the bench.
Cal State went into a funk after that, getting down as many as nine before a couple of threes got them back in it.
Cal State has settled for threes on 13 of its 32 shots, making only four of them.
Good crowd. No record, of course. Maybe 2,500 in a place that holds about 4,500.
Just getting people in this gym is always a good thing, for Cal State. It's still the nicest arena between the Galen Center and ... Phoenix? Nicer than Fullerton, bigger than Irvine ... Yeah, still the best between downtown L.A. and downtown Phoenix.
But I've always felt as if a significant fraction of people living in the San Bernardino area have never been in this gym. Nor on this campus. "Hidden," as it is, behind Little Mountain.
Cal State needs Michael Earl to get back in and score and not pick up that third foul for several minutes. Otherwise, they're going to be a game behind Humboldt in about a half-hour, and facing a game on Humboldt's floor the final weekend of the season.