Mens' Basketball defeats Embry-Riddle 83-68

Four Keelhaulers scored in double figures, as a strong second half propelled Cal Maritime back into third place in the Cal Pac Conference standings with five games remaining in the regular season.

The Cal Maritime Men's Basketball Team came into Thursday night's game in Prescott, Ariz. clinging to the fourth spot in the conference standings, and looking to wash away the sting of a loss against UC Merced last Saturday.

"We all know those top four spots are highly coveted and highly competitive," Head Coach Brendan Rooney said. "We don't necessarily have to talk about it, we just talk about going 1-0. If we take care of what we need to take care of, then that will take care of itself."

The Keelhaulers got off to a sluggish start, having some trouble early on penetrating the 2-3 zone of the Embry-Riddle Eagles.

"They did a good job utilizing their length," Rooney said. "And on our end, we were settling for lesser shots, which we've talked about. A lot of times in a zone they'll lull you to sleep a little bit and you become stagnant, but our entire game plan was to attack the zone and get in the creases."

Senior Mike Meserole of Galt, Calif. came in off the bench and sparked the Keelhauler offense, tying the game with 11 minutes left in the half at 14-14 with a corner three. Sophomore Josh Hauser of Thousand Oaks, Calif. hit a free throw for the Keelhaulers first lead of the night at 15-14 just 30 seconds later.

Meserole would hit another three, followed by a three by sophomore Evan Madill of Wallace, Calif. to make it 21-13 Maritime. Meserole would hit from downtown again to make 24-16 with just over eight minutes left in half.

"Mike was aggressive," Rooney said. "We made that change to him coming off the bench a few games ago, and it's a role he's excelled in. As a senior, it shows a ton of maturity by him to take that role and run with it. He attacked the gaps and had some good inside-out threes."

But the Keelhaulers would allow the Eagles far too many easy looks inside, while stagnating a bit on offense, and the Eagles led 34-33 at the half. At that point, the Eagles were shooting 59% from the field to just 41% for Cal Maritime. The Keelhaulers were 8 of 18 from downtown though, to just 3 of 11 for Embry-Riddle. But Maritime was only 1 for 4 from the free-throw line to 5 of 6 at the charity stripe for the Eagles.

The Keelhaulers started the second half off with a bang, with senior Daniel Solis of Concord, Calfi. connecting on an alley-oop to freshman Zavier Lucero of Vallejo, Calif.

Embry-Riddle would answer with a pair of three pointers, but a few minutes later Donovin Townsend of Modesto, Calif. would hit a three pointer plus a free throw to make it 45-42 Maritime with just over 15 min left.

That was unfortunately followed by a doubly bad foul call on Meserole, as the offensive player dropped his shoulder into Meserole, and the officials also incorrectly deemed the Eagles player to be shooting.

But Townsend hit another three pointer, this time from the other corner and it was 48-46 Maritime. At that point, senior Phil Randles of Fresno, Calif. would function as the closer for the Keelhaulers hitting an array of pull-up jumpers, layups and a three pointer to extend Cal Maritime's lead.

The Keelhaulers' defense would spark a 12-0 run to put them up 58-46 with 10:16 to play. Though each team committed 16 turnovers, the Keelhaulers scored seven more points off turnovers than the Eagles, and won the rebound battle 38-26.

"Our offense improved as we got stops," Rooney said. "We were able to run in transition and beat the zone down the floor before it could get set up."

Whenever the Eagles would threaten to make it a game, Randles or Hauser would make a shot to keep Embry-Riddle at arm's length. Randles led all scorers with 17 points, going 7 of 13 from the field. Meserole finished with 16 points, going 4 of 8 from downtown, a perfect 4-4 at the free-throw line, and tied for the team lead with five rebounds.

Hauser also finished with five boards to go along with his 12 points while shooting 3 of 6 from three-point range. Lucero also finished with 12 points, as the Keelhaulers finished the night shooting 48% from the field, and again shot 50% from beyond the arc, going 15-30 from downtown.

The Keelhaulers lead the Cal Pac in three pointers made per game at 9.4, and are tied with PUC in three-point percentage at 37.4%. After the Eagles shot 59% from the field in the first half, the Keelhauler defense would bring Embry-Riddle down to 43% for the game.

Senior Malik Edwards of Victorville, Calif. got his first start of the season after dealing with a foot injury most of the year. He got the assignment to match up with 6'8" Josh Jewell of Embry-Riddle, but got into early foul trouble.

UP NEXT: The Keelhaulers complete their Arizona road trip by taking on the University of Benedictine Mesa, at 6:30 Pacific Time on Saturday.