ARCATA, Calif. -- On a night when senior Austin Bryan missed the mark and senior David Howard was unavailable, talented freshmen Malik Morgan and Calvin Young II stepped up and led the Humboldt State men's basketball team to a 71-58 win against Cal State Stanislaus.
 
Over 1,500 fans were on hand Thursday in Lumberjack Arena as the Lumberjacks improved to 10-7 in California Collegiate Athletic Association play and 16-7 overall. Cal State Stanislaus sank to 14-8 overall and 11-6 in conference.
 
"We play in front of the best crowd in the CCAA hands down," said Head Coach Steve Kinder. (We had) two freshmen out on the floor against one of the top teams in our conference and they showed a lot of maturity. We tell them that they aren't freshmen anymore, because they have had so much playing time and experience. (We consider them) seasoned college players now."
 
Double-digit scoring totals from Morgan (11) and Young (10) in the opening half helped the Green and Gold to a 10-point lead at intermission, 37-27. Young went a perfect 5-for-5 from the field in the first period.
 
The Warriors did not give up and trimmed the Jacks' lead to single digits, 49-41, with 12:43 left to play. Alek Carlson sparked the Cal State Stanislaus effort with five of his eight second-half points during the stretch.
 
HSU never loosened its grip on the lead and finished the game on a 6-2 run.
 
"I thought there were a few times down the stretch when we had open-court, fast-break situations when our guards wheeled the ball back and didn't force the issue or commit a turnover," said Kinder. "Malik and Allan communicate extremely well and are good leaders on the offense.  One is a freshman and the other a senior, but the freshman is catching up quick."
 
Morgan was the Green and Gold's top scorer and had 18 points, Young and Rakim Brown tallied 14 points apiece and Allan Guei chipped in 13 points. Young and Brown also combined to pull down 14 of HSU's 35 rebounds. Morgan dished out a team-high five assists and committed no turnovers.
 
"We were able to rebound with them and almost match their production tonight (on the boards). We also turned them over 17 times compared to our nine," said Kinder. "Our formula for success is having four or more players score over 10 points a game. When you are doing that you will be scoring enough points to win a ball game."
 
CCAA leader and archrival Chico State visits Lumberjack Arena Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.