Box Score
POMONA, Calif. - Behind a big night offensively and defensively from
Donnelle Booker, the Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team secured a 69-61 victory over Cal State San Bernardino Tuesday in front of 1,017 fans at Kellogg Gym.
The Broncos pick up their third-straight win and improve to marks of 7-6 overall and 4-5 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. CSUSB falls to 8-5 overall and 6-3 in league action.
Booker, a senior forward from San Bernardino, Calif., matched his season-high total of 14 points while adding three blocks on the defensive end.
"No matter how I'm feeling, all I care about is keeping the energy up and staying active," Booker said. I don't care about what happens, as long as the energy is there. 'Coach K' even warned us though, to keep our energy up but don't get so eager that it affects our composure."
Fellow senior
Mark Rutledge came through in the clutch at the free throw line, going 8-for-9 on the night in that category and knocking down key attempts late in the contest.
The Broncos jumped out to a 4-0 lead with back-to-back layups from
Mitchel Anderson and
Dwayne Fells and CPP continued to raise its advantage as the half moved along.
Kevin Menner contributed a solid opening period for the Broncos, collecting seven points with 5-for-6 shooting from the line and five rebounds. His knocked down three attempts from the strike during a 10-0 run that stretched between the 4:48 and the 1:56 marks in the half.
After carrying a 35-20 lead into halftime, CPP pushed its margin as high as 21 points when
Tobias Jahn dropped in a layup with 15:05 to play. After that point though, the Broncos' offense stumbled into a seven-minute scoring drought, as the Coyotes pulled to within nine, 45-36, after a 12-0 run.
CSUSB continued to chip away at CPP's lead and brought it down to six after a trey from Robbie Robinson with 56 seconds left on the clock. Despite the Broncos hitting just 66 percent of their free throws on the evening, it was Rutledge's 6-for-6 showing at the line during the final 33 seconds that kept the Coyotes from making it a single-possession affair.
CPP earned a sizeable advantage on the boards, 45-35, as Fells and Jahn collected nine rebounds apiece. Anderson finished with 14 points and Rutledge totaled 13 of his own.
Up next, the Broncos travel to play Cal State East Bay Thursday before a Saturday contest at UC San Diego.
