Victory at La Sierra extends overall win streak to three

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – La Sierra scored nine of the game's first 11 points, throughout the first five minutes of action in Thursday's Cal Pac Conference game at Alumni Pavilion — the lone highlight for the host team since a 7-0 Cal Maritime run, capped by a layup from Shawn Kelly, gave the Keelhaulers a nine-point lead with 9:15 remaining in the opening half.

From that point on, Cal Maritime never looked back as its defense prevented the Golden Eagles from regaining the lead for the rest of the night in a matchup the Keelhaulers won by a 61-59 result.

With its third Cal Pac victory in a row, men's basketball will enter Saturday's 4 p.m. showdown at Antelope Valley with a 6-9 overall record and 6-3 mark against conference teams. La Sierra will continue its season with respective records of 2-15 and 2-7.

Thursday's contest could have been a trap game for a young Keelhauler roster that will end its season-long six-game road swing against the Cal Pac's lone representative in the NAIA's latest national poll this weekend. Instead, it will head to Lancaster with momentum after winning its third straight by taking care of business in Riverside.

Braxton Adderly scored double figures for the third straight game by finishing with a team-high 16 points, Lunden Taylor scored 14 on 6 of 11 shooting from the floor and Angelo Nicandro connected on 3 of 4 field goal attempts, including both shots from three, to end his evening with a season-high nine points.

Kelly's game-high six boards helped the Keelhaulers out-rebound LSU by six overall (36-30), by five on the offensive glass (16-11) and one on defense (20-19).

Cal Maritime also scored 22 of its points off 12 Golden Eagles turnovers.