Men's Basketball Takes Down First-Place Antelope Valley
Cal Maritime defeated the University of Antelope Valley 88-70 with five players scoring in double figures along with a different wrinkle to their usual stiffling Keelhauler defense.
The Cal State Maritime Men's Basketball Team came into this season looking for a seventh-straight Cal Pac Conference Regular-Season Title, but they came into Saturday night's contest in Lancaster, Calif. just 2-2 in conference play so far.
The Pioneers (11-5, 4-1) were undefeated in conference play coming into the contest, but the Keelhaulers sent a statement to the rest of the Cal Pac, that rumors of their regular-season reign coming to an end may be greatly exaggerated.
The Keelhaulers (12-7, 3-2) again trailed early in the game, so again Head Coach Brendan Rooney burned an early time out to try to get his team going. And again, it worked.
The offense came to life with some of the best ball movement the Keelhaulers have shown throughout an entire game this season. Cal Maritime scored from everywhere on the floor and from every player that played more than four minutes.
"Offensively we were unselfish," Coach Rooney said. "We've talked a lot in our program over the years about the 'one more' shot. These guys are really playing for each other. It's fun to watch and has been fun for the guys when they play that way."
The Keelhaulers zone defense initially had trouble tracking players that would slide underneath the defense on the baseline or sneak their way past defenders on the weak side. But eventually they frustrated the Pioneers offense, who tried to flood a side of the zone like a football offense, only to have the Keelhaulers force them to shoot outside shots.
"Zone was what we needed tonight," Rooney said. "But I felt in our zone we kept the same mentality we need to have in man-to-man, and it allowed us to adjust to their strengths."
The Keelhaulers finished a plus-6 in turnovers, and had only one less rebound than the bigger Pioneers. Cal Maritime shot 54% from the field and 45% from three-point range, while keeping UAV to 43% from the field and just 27% from downtown.
Five Cal Maritime players finished in double figures scoring, led by senior Phil Randles of Fresno, Calif. who poured in 20 points on the night. Randles exemplified the inside-outside game of the Keelhaulers, as he went 8-14 from the field and 3 of 4 from beyond three-point range.
"We played as one unit tonight," Randles said. "On defense we had a game plan and stuck to it. Offensively we were very unselfiseh, and it was contagious. Everyone played off of each other and it was a lot of fun. We're really enjoying playing together."
Sophomore Josh Hauser of Thousand Oaks, Calif. finished with 12 points on the night, going 4 of 8 from the field, and used his dribble drive to set up teammates, as he led Maritime with five assists.
Freshman Zavier Lucero of Vallejo, Calif. and sophomore Kyle Price of Rocklin, Calif. each finished with 11 points on the night, with Lucero collecting three assists by setting up Price with passes in the paint and leading the Keelhaulers with nine rebounds.
Sophomore John McMillan of Cloverdale, Calif. finished with 10 points including a two-handed jam in the second half to emphatically signal the Keelhaulers control of the game, after leading by just six points at halftime.
Senior Mike Meserole of Galt, Calif. finished with nine points hitting 2 of 3 from three-point range, and senior Daniel Solis of Concord, Calif. finished with eight, going 2 for 5 from downtown.
UP NEXT: The Keelhaulers look to avenge last season's conference tourney loss to PUC when they return home for a 7:30 tip off on Thursday, January 18.