POMONA, Calif. - Strong shooting performances from
Barry Bell and
Mitchel Anderson sparked the Broncos' offense Saturday as the ninth-ranked Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team topped Bethesda, 66-44, to stay undefeated.
As a squad, the Broncos shot 51.9 percent and held the visitors to a 38.6-percent showing. With the result, CPP moves to 7-0 overall while the Flames drop to 1-11.
Anderson and Bell contributed 15 points apiece while
DeRonn Scott joined them in double figures with 11 points of his own. Scott narrowly missed a double-double showing as he finished with a career-high nine rebounds.
Each of the Broncos' starters collected at least two steals each while sophomore
Daniel Rodriguez racked up four steals in reserve duty. Freshman forward
Jordan Faison earned his first career start as a Bronco and finished with a season-high 30 minutes to go along with nine points.
Turnovers contributed to slow starts for both offenses as the two squads stumbled out to a 9-9 tie with nine minutes played. The Broncos and Flames combined for 48 turnovers. Rodriguez broke the 9-9 tie with a three-pointer from atop the arc and that started a 12-2 run for CPP that was capped off with a
Connor Gacek trey.
The two squads played fairly even through the remainder of the half and a layup from BU's Ralph Monday cut the Broncos' advantage to 30-21 heading into the break.
A jumper from Bell on the opening possession of the second half pushed CPP's lead into double digits and that's where it stayed through the remainder of the game.
The Broncos continued to capitalize on the Flames' high turnover rate and a pair of steals led to back-to-back fastbreak layups for Bell. Those baskets at the 15:53 and 15:24 marks pushed CPP's edge to 42-25.
Scott found his shooting rhythm in the second half. His lone three-pointer of the contest raised the Broncos' lead to 17 points at the 11:55 and he added a pair of layups later in the period to help CPP maintain its double-digit advantage before picking up the 22-point result.
The Broncos will resume conference play with a 7:30 p.m. home matchup against Humboldt State on Saturday, Dec. 15.
