ARCATA, Calif. - In front of a partisan Jacks' crowd of 1,141 Thursday, the No. 10 Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team battled tough with host Humboldt State before ultimately suffering a 74-64 setback.
It marked just the second loss of the season for the Broncos, who stand at 9-2 overall and 6-2 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA). Facing a halftime deficit of 35-24, CPP pulled to within five points early in the second half.
The Jacks kept their turnovers low, winning that battle 17-8, and found a way to push their conference record above .500 at 5-4. Free-throw shooting hurt the Broncos' chances, with CPP going 7-for-19 at the line.
Leading the Broncos in scoring was
Terrence Drisdom with a career-high 16 points. as
Mitchel Anderson and
Tyquan Brown joined their teammate in double figures with 11 and 10 respectively.
HSU jumped out to a 12-4 edge early in the first half behind the strong play of Scott Clark and Kyle Baxter. Through the evening, Baxter finished 8-for-12 from the floor en route to a game-high 19 points while Clark put together an 8-for-9 effort at the free throw line.
The visiting CPP squad battled back to within two points on two different occasions in the first half. The first instance came after back-to-back three-pointers from
Connor Gacek and Drisdom. The second occasion was after an offensive rebound by
Dwayne Fells led to a layup from
Matt Rosser.
With both teams shooting right around 51 percent, there weren't a lot of rebounds to collect. The Broncos ended up with a sizeable 36-22 advantage in that category though, as CPP's total included 16 offensive boards.
The Jacks closed out the first half on an 8-0 run though, pushing their lead at the break to 35-24.
An early second-half charge from the Broncos trimmed the margin down to five points, after Brown sunk a free throw to make it a 36-31 game. HSU countered with a 5-0 spurt and kept its distance the rest of the way, ultimately winning by 10.
Up next for CPP will be a 7:30 p.m. matchup Saturday at Sonoma State. The Seawolves topped San Francisco State Thursday, 81-61.
