Men's Basketball defeats PUC 81-68

A big second half for the Keelhaulers (14-4, 2-2) erased an early deficit and put them into a four-way tie for 3rd place in the Cal Pac Conference.

The Keelhaulers scuffled early on against the Pioneers as PUC was able to dribble drive to create offense and broke out to a 17-8 lead seven minutes into the game.

Slowly but surely Cal Maritime began to play a calmer game, settling in defensively and exhibiting better patience on offense. The Keelhaulers were forcing the Pioneers to foul by attacking the basket and just being a step quicker and a notch smarter than PUC.

But the Keelhaulers still found themselves down 31-24 with 3:25 left in the half, before the combination of Ben Borja's back-to-the-basket moves and Zavier Lucero's mid-range jumpers got Cal Maritime within one at the half at 33-32, and had gotten the crowd into it with an emphatic block by Borja and a dunk by Lucero.

The patient approach by the Keelhaulers as a whole and the mid-range jumpers from Lucero continued in the second half, and as it had most of the day in Vallejo, Calif. it began to rain from outside for Cal Maritime.

Matt Essien hit four three pointers in seven possessions for the Keelhaulers with jumpers from Lucero sprinkled in. A layup from Cetrick Yeanay put Maritime up by double digits for the first time on the night with 12:20 to play. That was followed by a Borja steal that led to a Josh Hauser three pointer, and the Keelhaulers were up 56-43 with just over 12 minutes left, forcing the reeling Pioneers to call a time out.

The Pioneers trimmed it back to single digits with under 10 minutes to play, but Evan Madill would hit a pair of three pointers to stretch Maritime's lead to 64-50 with just under nine minutes left. The Keelhaulers would never let the lead get under double digits from there extending their lead to as large as 79-59 with 1:17 to play after a pair of Yeanay free throws.

Five Keelhaulers finished the night scoring in double figures with Lucero's 17 points leading the way along with a team-leading five rebounds. Essien and Hauser also pulled down five boards while scoring 16 and 11 points respectively. Hauser also finished with a team-leading four assists.

Borja poured in 15 points and two blocks while Madill finished with 10 points and a perfect 4 for 4 from the free throw line. Cal Maritime shot 7 of 12 (58%) from downtown in the second half and 44% on the night, including Essien's 4 for 5 night from three-point range.

They shot 51% from the field for the game and a gaudy 63% (15 of 24) in the second half from the floor. The Keelhaulers had four more steals than the Pioneers and blocked five shot to none for PUC.

UP NEXT: Men's Basketball will travel to UC Merced to take on the Bobcats at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, January 18.