CARSON – Unable to get its offense going, Humboldt State fell into an early hole and was unable to recover on the way to a 69-52 loss to Cal State Dominguez Hills on Friday.

Trailing by as many as 16 points early in the game, the Jacks rallied to within seven by halftime, but were unable to come any closer in dropping to 13-6 overall and 6-3 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Cal State Dominguez Hills retained first place in league, moving ot 13-3 overall and 7-2.

Rodney Yearby led all scorers in the game, putting in 18 points for the Toros, and Michael Hernandez scored 16. Mike Kehrig and Kyle Baxter led HSU with 10 points each. No other statistics were available due to computer failure.

A lengthy delay started the game off on an unfortunate note, with words exchanged by HSU's Owen Newman and CSUDH's Jamel Ward. A flurry of hands followed, and though no blows landed, both players were ejected from the game with only a minute having passed.

Shooting proved to be the Jacks' next problem, keeping them on the short end of the score.  By halftime they'd managed only 27 percent shooting from the field, and didn't do any better in the second half.

For much of the second half the game remained status quo, but the Lumberjacks were never able to get the deficit below seven points. The Toros remained content to work the ball inside to Jerrell Smith, and Yearby added to the effort with hanging jump shots.

Humboldt State moves on to Los Angeles for Saturday's game where the Jacks will battle the Cal State LA Golden Eagles. Tipoff in the Eagles Nest is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.