Box Score
POMONA, Calif. - Now it gets interesting.
The Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team recorded a hard-fought 88-71 victory Friday over Cal State East Bay, as both teams wrapped up the 2010-11 regular season. From here, the Broncos will travel to play San Francisco State Tuesday in the first round of the California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament. Tipoff for that contest is set for 7 p.m.
The four winners from the opening-round matchups will advance to the CSUEB campus in Hayward for the semifinal and final rounds of the conference tournament. The winner of the event earns an automatic bid into the NCAA Division II Tournament.
On Friday at Kellogg Gym, the Broncos celebrated Senior Night in honoring four men's basketball student-athletes:
Donnelle Booker,
Tobias Jahn,
Kevin Menner and
Mark Rutledge. Three of those players were members of the 2010 NCAA D-II Championship Team and the fourth, Menner, has been instrumental in CPP's lineup this season and will be key to what the team can attain in the postseason.
When all was said and done Friday, Jahn and Menner recorded double-double performances.
Mitchel Anderson and
Terrence Drisdom added point totals of 20 and 12 respectively, while Booker contributed seven points and nine rebounds.
The visiting Pioneers hit their first two shots of the contest to jump out to a 4-0 lead. CSUEB maintained an advantage for much of the first half but CPP put together a 7-0 spurt to close the period while holding the Pioneers without a successful field goal for the final four and a half minutes leading into intermission.
That stretch to end the half featured the Broncos' seniors on the attack, with Booker hitting a trey to start the rally and Jahn dropping in a layup to close the period.
CPP carried a 32-29 lead into the break but the margin didn't last for long. The Pioneers' Roshun Wynne struck for a three-pointer 29 seconds into the second half to tie the score at 32-32.
Both squads continued to attempt and knock down attempts from beyond the arc. CSUEB momentarily stole the lead after a Mark Samuels layup a 13:29 but the Broncos settled themselves and produced a 6-0 run. The momentum started with two-straight scores from Jahn and rose even further after a steal from Anderson, who dunked off the fast-break opportunity following an assist by
Connor Gacek.
CPP's lead stretched as high as eight points after a Drisdom three-pointer with 10:38 left in regulation. The Pioneers trimmed the margin down to one just a few minutes later but the Broncos fought the rally off, pushing the advantage back to eight following a three-point play from Menner.
A successful three-pointer from Anderson pushed the lead into double digits, 69-58, and the advantage hovered around that mark for the remainder of the game.
