Cal Maritime finishes first league homestand with four wins

VALLEJO, Calif – What started with a postponed game on January 10 vs. UC Merced continued with four straight victories during Cal Maritime's inaugural set of Cal Pac matchups, a five-game conference homestand that took place throughout and eight-day timespan and ended on Saturday, at PEAC Main Gym, against Saint Katherine.

The Keelhaulers entered that contest with an undefeated league record, and a seven-game overall win streak that ended with a 71-59 victory for the visiting Firebirds. With this result, Cal Maritime's overall streak came to a halt at seven games, the longest string of positive results since non-conference play, during the 2019-20 season, when that squad also won seven straight.

Men's basketball will continue its season with records of 9-6 overall and 4-1 vs. Cal Pac teams.

The Keelhaulers' four conference victories this season are the most of any team in the league; Saint Katherine now holds the second-highest win total, and will return to Southern California with respective records of 7-6 and 3-0.

Eric Norton led his team in scoring with 18 points, followed by Amil Fields with seven and a pair of Keelhaulers in Angelo Nicandro and Divine Nwoko who added another six apiece. Norton and Trey Porter each ended their day with a team-high seven rebounds.

Even though the Firebirds shot 41 pct. in the first half, compared to Cal Maritime's 27 pct. shooting clip, the Keelhaulers only trailed by seven at the half, thanks to a defense that forced eight Saint Katherine turnovers.

For the game, Cal Maritime created more scoring opportunities compared to its opponents — the Keelhaulers took six more shots — but the Firebirds finished with six more baskets from the floor to hand a red-hot Keelhauler roster their first loss since November 28.