Making Roadrunner History
By Cameron Hertzog
The ball left his hands, and time seemed to stand still with .2 seconds on the clock. The score was tied; if he scored this basket, they would win. The entire stadium held their breath as they watched the ball drop through the air towards the basket. It was all net. They had won.
Cal State Bakersfield’s Bastile scored the winning 3 point basket, breaking the 54-54 tie with New Mexico State at the WAC tournament in Las Vegas thus sending CSUB to NACC tournament, March Madness, for the first time in history.
The historical game was certainly one for the books. The entire game, fans were on the edge of their seats. Bakersfield seemed to have the leg up in the first half of the game with a comfortable 10 point lead for most of it.
Bakersfield ran into some foul trouble in the second half with their usually calm and collected point guard, Brent Wrap, committing 4 personal fouls. Eventually, he took an elbow to the face and had to sit out the rest of the game with a bandaged eyebrow.
The energy of the Runners seemed to shift after that, and New Mexico with their super star and potential NBA draftee, Pascal Siakam, started to make a comeback. Still the Roadrunners held their ground and a slight lead.
With only 15 seconds left on the clock, New Mexico tied up the game with 2 free throws off a foul committed by CSUB senior, Ahmed. With only 13 seconds left, CSUB called a timeout.
The CSUB team gathered around their coach Rod Barns. Coach Barns himself had made it to the Round of Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament when he attended Old’ Miss. He seemed cool under the pressure.
Coach Barns gave them one last talk before one last play: a play that won them a game, a shot Bastile took, a shot that paid off, a shot that made history.
Coach Barns told the Bakersfield Californian, “I felt he could get the last shot off. They had trouble guarding him once he came off the screen. I thought he’d make it . . . I didn’t know it would be that kind of shot. But I knew he’d make it.”
This game made history for the Runners. It was the first time CSUB had beaten New Mexico, and the first time they won the WAC tournament sending them to the NCAA tournament. It was all like something out of a movie.
Coach Barns told the Bakersfield Californian that during the timeout, “I told our players, ‘We’re going to the Big Dance.’”
And that they are.