Game Preview: Men's Basketball hosts PUC Jan. 16
Coming off a Conference win against La Sierra University at home last Saturday 76-61, Cal Maritime (13-4,1-2) will play its fourth conference game this Thursday against the visiting Pacific Union College Pioneers (4-10, 1-2) from Angwin, Calif. with tip off set for 7:30 p.m. PST.
The rivalry between these two has had some big moments and festive atmospheres. Keelhaulers fans remember the dagger from half court by PUC in the 2017 Cal Pac Conference Championship game to give the Pioneers the title and end Cal Maritime's run of National Championship Tournament appearances.
But the Keelhaulers are 20-9 overall against PUC and won 12 straight against the Pioneers from 2011-16 before the series became the back-and-forth affair that it is today.
After starting conference play with losses against Simpson University 84-74 and 23rd-ranked University of Antelope Valley 83-67 for the Keelhaulers first losing streak of the year, they'll look to start another winning streak of their once again to match their season high is eight games.
Zavier Lucero is coming off a 21 point performance where he locked up the all-time men's basketball scoring leader in points (1,042) passing former Keelhauler Daniel Radford's 1,031 points. Senior Josh Hauser is approaching 1,000 career points (973) and the all-time assist mark as well.
Despite a 1-2 record in conference play, the Keelhaulers are off to one of their best starts in program history through the first 17 games at 13-4. Cal Maritime is 6-1 at home this year while Pacific Union is 1-7 on the road, with the Pioneers coming off a wild loss at home against 23rd-ranked University of Antelope Valley falling 102-99 in overtime.
The previous eight games between these two teams have been decided by less than 10 points with four of them being decided by three points or less, while Cal Maritime has been convincing in their wins this season, averaging 20 points in those games. Pacific Union College is ranked 9thin the nation in Division II NAIA in defensive 3pt field goal percentage at 30%.
Cal Maritime has two players averaging double digits in points per game with Zavier Lucero (20.2) and Josh Hauser (13.4) while PUC has four players in Marc Williams (13.3), Isaiah McCullough (12.1), Tim Ford (10.4) and De'Rajaee Austin (10.1).
All Cal Maritime home games can be streamed on our Stretch Portal page, https://portal.stretchinternet.com/csum/