Keelhaulers drop opening game of season-ending road swing

REDDING, Calif. – Even though they fell behind early in Wednesday's series finale at the James M. Grant Center in Redding, the Keelhaulers remained poised throughout the second half and pulled within 11 with just under two minutes remaining and trimmed their deficit to nine before Simpson withstood Cal Maritime's late charge to record a 71-63 victory.

By hitting more than half of his shots from the floor (7 of 13), Eric Norton led Cal Maritime with 18 points. Miles Pennington ended his night with 14 points by connecting on all but one of his seven field goal attempts and both shots from the free throw line, and Divine Nwoko added another 10 points by canning two of his three field goals from three and another pair, out of three attempts, at the stripe.

Cal Maritime's reserves outscored its counterparts, 21-15, and scored six more point in the paint compared to Simpson (24-18), but it was the Red Hawks' shooting from three that ultimately became the difference in the game since they hit 13 from behind the arc compared to the Keelhaulers' six.

Men's basketball will return to Vallejo and have one day to prep before departing to Southern California for this weekend's two-game swing through Southern California, which starts with Saturday's 8:30 p.m. game at La Sierra. They will arrive to Riverside with an 11-8 overall and 6-3 Cal Pac record before heading to Antelope Valley two days later for the team's 7:30 p.m. regular season finale.

Simpson will head to UC Merced for its final game of the season on Monday with records of 14-7 and 9-3.