Surging Keelhaulers head to Pacific Union for Sunday's 3 p.m. rivalry game

Game 16

Cal Maritime Keelhaulers (9-6, 4-1 Cal Pac)
at
Pacific Union Pioneers (2-9, 2-2 Cal Pac)

Sunday, Jan. 30 – 3 p.m.
Pacific Auditorium (aka Covered Wagon) – Angwin, Calif. 

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VALLEJO, Calif. – Following its conference-opening five-game homestand, men's basketball will compete in its inaugural Cal Pac road game of the season when it heads to Angwin to face its rivals, Pacific Union. Tipoff inside Pacific Auditorium, aka Covered Wagon, is set for 3 p.m. on Sunday.

With a league-leading four conference victories already earned this season, Cal Maritime will look to continue its hot start against a PUC squad that split its first four Cal Pac games, all played on its home floor. Sandwiched between victories against Embry-Riddle and Park Gilbert was a loss versus Benedictine Mesa; with two of their last three games postponed due to COVID protocols, the Pioneers will return to action for the first time since suffering a 10-point overtime loss to Westcliff on January 22.

As was the case with the Keelhaulers, Pacific Union started league play with a lengthy homestand; once Sunday's game concludes, the Pioneers' home-heavy January schedule, which includes three postponed games, will also end.

Once Cal Maritime leaves Covered Wagon, six of the Pioneers' final seven originally scheduled games will take place on the road; the 2022 series finale is slated for February 12 in Vallejo on the Keelhaulers' Senior Night.

Including its designated non-conference clash, which took place inside PEAC Main Gym on November 7, men's basketball leads the all-time series, 22-7. That previous meeting, which ended with an 82-69 victory, the Keelhaulers led by six at the break, scored the first five points of the second half and maintained that double-digit advantage for the rest of the night to help the team earn its first win of the season, which doubled as the inaugural victory of head coach Tim Bross' Cal Maritime tenure.

Even though the Pioneers' Victor Wariso ended with a game-high 38 points, and teammate Jordan Lopez chipped in another 12, the rest of PUC's roster struggled against a Cal Maritime defense that limited just about everyone else's offensive output to low single digits.

Wariso, a senior guard, leads all Pioneers in scoring this season at 16.1 ppg, followed by senior guard Chris Jones at 16.0 ppg.

Including the last three straight, Cal Maritime won five of the last seven played against the Pioneers and two of the last three in Angwin.