Box Score
POMONA, Calif. – After Donnelle Booker broke a scoreless tie with a three-pointer 45 seconds into Friday's game, the Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team led the rest of the way. Although the visiting Cal State L.A. pulled to within two points during the second half, the Broncos battled tough to pull out their eighth conference win, a 64-48 result.
Kevin Menner paced the CPP offense with 25 points, just one shy of his career high. The senior from Brooklyn, N.Y., went a perfect 9-for-9 from the free throw line Friday. Mitchel Anderson and Booker finished as the two other Bronco players in double figures, as they posted 12 and 10 respectively.
“Booker showed a lot of energy tonight and helped lift our defense,” CPP head coach Greg Kamansky said. “I also thought Mark Rutledge did a great job guarding [Franklin] Session because he's a player that can put up points.”
Session, a senior guard, shot 6-for-13 from the field and 1-for-5 from beyond the arc for the Golden Eagles, a squad ranked ninth in the latest NCAA West Region poll. As team, CSULA missed all eight of its three-point attempts during the second half and ended 4-for-14 at the strike.
The Broncos ended up with just nine turnovers on the night. CPP has managed the feat of keeping its turnovers in single digits four times this season and three of those occurrences have come in the past two weeks.
With the win, the Broncos improve to 11-7 overall and 8-6 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The victory moves CPP past the Golden Eagles (12-7, 8-7 CCAA) into a fourth-place tie with Cal State San Bernardino in the conference standings.
To open Friday's contest, the Broncos rallied for an 11-2 run that featured scoring from five different CPP players. CSULA pulled to within three, 14-11, after a Bussey Ellis three-pointer but the Broncos bounced back with a 7-0 stretch capped off by a Dwayne Fells layup.
The final field goal of the half from CPP came on a Tobias Jahn jumper with 5:21 to play and a 25-13 Broncos' lead turned into a 25-22 advantage before a pair of Menner free throws brought the score to 27-22 going into intermission.
Although the two squads played close through the early parts of the second half, CPP rallied between the 5:27 and 3:27 marks for a 9-0 run to put the game out of reach.
Up next for the Broncos will be a pivotal 7:30 p.m. contest Saturday at Kellogg Gym against Cal State Dominguez Hills. The Toros are tied for first place in the CCAA and are ranked second in the NCAA West Region.
