Cal Maritime sweeps three-game weekend slate

VALLEJO, Calif. — Cal Maritime faced a unique challenge entering the holiday weekend with three games in as many days in its inaugural set of Cal Pac Conference matchups. This tournament-like situation — four of the six teams that advance to the league's year-end playoff could face a similar situation by playing three straight games in the same timespan — was one the Keelhaulers passed with flying colors, thanks to Monday's 85-64 win against Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Led by double-doubles from Amil Fields and Miles Pennington, the former finished with 27 points and 12 rebounds, both game-high totals, and the latter posted 16 and 11, the Keelhaulers cruised to their sixth-straight victory and became the first Cal Pac team to record an undefeated 3-0 league record this year.

When the team's five-game homestand continues with Thursday's 7:30 p.m. contest against Westcliff, inside PEAC Main Gym, Cal Maritime will also enter that game with a 7-5 overall mark. Including Monday's result, the Eagles will return to Prescott, Arizona, with records of 2-13 and 0-2.

As was the case in yesterday's game against Park Gilbert, Cal Maritime's opponent took an early lead that doubled as its primary highlight of the night.

On Monday, the Eagles scored the game's first five points and led by a game-high seven until the Keelhaulers scored nine of the following 11 points to turn its 11-4 deficit into a 15-13 advantage — a lead that quickly grew to double digits for the rest of the game.

In the first half alone, Cal Maritime's defense forced ERAU to shoot 28 pct. from the floor compared to its 41 pct. shooting clip. Even though the Eagles' percentage increased to 38 pct. in the second half, the Keelhaulers improved as well by knocking down 17 of 38 attempts (48 pct.) after halftime.

With the duo of Fields and Pennington leading the way, Cal Maritime also dominated the glass on both ends of the court by outrebounding Embry-Riddle 46-32 overall, 14-8 on the offensive glass and 32-24 on defense.

Not only did the Keelhaulers out-score the Eagles down low, their 44 points in the paint were almost three times ERAU's total of 16, they scored twice as many points off turnovers (22-11), finished with 20 second chance points compared to their opponents' seven and saw their bench score just over half (43) of the team's 85 points.

Embry-Riddle's reserves ended the evening with 28 points.

In addition to his game-high seven steals, three shy of the Eagles' team total, Eric Norton also added 12 points to the Keelhaulers' cause.

Christmas Togai, Jr. and Conner Verdugo led Embry-Riddle with 12 and 19 points.

Following Thursday night's game against Westcliff, Cal Maritime's conference-opening homestand will conclude on Saturday in a 3 p.m. contest versus Saint Katherine.