Men's Basketball Improves to 4-2 in Conference Play

The Keelhaulers won their fourth straight on Thursday night, as four players scored in double figures in an 85-77 victory over Pacific Union College.

Cal Maritime (13-7, 4-2) had lost four straight games against PUC, including last season's Cal Pac Conference Tournament Championship game, and their tenacity showed on defense in the first meeting of 2018.

The Keelhaulers started the game on an 8-0 run before PUC called a time out just three minutes into the game, as senior Phil Randles of Fresno, Calif. hit a couple of early buckets and freshman Zavier Lucero of Vallejo, Calif. altered Pioneers' shots.

The Keelhaulers would extend their lead to 14-0 before the Pioneers (6-9, 3-3) would hit their first basket after missing their first 18 attempts, and even that was followed by a delay of game warning to PUC.

A three pointer from senior Daniel Solis of Concord, Calif. made it 17-2 Cal Maritime, and a three from Donovin Townsend of Modesto, Calif. made it 20-4 Keelhaulers with just over 10 minutes remaining in the first half.

PUC made it a 22-12 game with 8:30 left in the half, but Solis answered with another corner three. The Pioneers finally trimmed the lead back to single digits at 25-16 with 6:35 left, and made it a six-point game by halftime. Solis lead the Keelhaulers with eight points at the break, and Cal Maritime kept PUC under 28% shooting from the field.

Randles picked up his third foul less than two minutes into second half. Head Coach Brendan Rooney left him in, and Randles rewarded his coach. He hit two of his trademark, pull-up jumpers in the lane, and then hit three pointers on two of the next three Maritime possesions to put Maritime up by 15 again.

Sophomore Josh Hauser of Thousand Oaks, Calif. put the Keelhaulers up by 20 at 62-42 with just under 12 minutes remaining, as he drove to the lane holding the ball up high with his right hand to keep it away from defenders. Senior Mike Meserole of Galt, Calif. gave the Keelhaulers their largest lead of the night at 64-42 with a jumper in the lane on their next possesion.

Maritime kept PUC at arm's length for most of the second half, but just as they did in the first half, PUC made it a game again. The Pioneers would again cut it to a six-point deficit, but not until there were only 40 seconds remaing. The Keelhaulers worked the clock well in their final possessions and hit their free throws late in the game, an area where they've shown much improvement in recent weeks.

Lucero scored 19 points on 5 of 10 shooting, and added eight rebounds to lead the Keelhaulers as well. Randles finished with 17 points on 7 of 11 shooting, Hauser added 13 points, and Daniel Solis finished with 10.

For the game, the Keelhaulers shot 52.6 percent from the field while keeping the Pioneers to 39% shooting and were nearly perfect from the free-throw line, making 16 of 17.

The Keelhaulers are a game back of first-place UC Merced (9-9, 5-1), which beat Simpson 68-58.

UP NEXT: The Men's Basketball Team is back in action on Saturday to host Simpson College of Redding at 7:30 p.m.