POMONA, Calif. - A late rally from the Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team fell short Thursday against Sonoma State, with the Seawolves securing 60-53 victory to complete the regular season sweep of CPP.
It marked just the second 2011-12 home loss for the Broncos, who now turn their attention to a Saturday showdown with Humboldt State at Kellogg Gym.
Starting the night in a three-team tie for first place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) standings, CPP now falls into a two-team tie for second after the Jacks of HSU suffered an overtime loss at San Francisco State Thursday.
The Broncos trailed the Seawolves by as many as 15 points in the second half but managed to trim the deficit to as little as four points on several different occasions in the final two minutes. CPP couldn't get it to a single-possession game though while SSU closed out the game by hitting five of its final six free throw attempts.
Through the 40 minutes of action, the Seawolves sunk seven three-pointers as opposed to the Broncos' three. SSU's Patrick Scott finished with a game-high 18 points on 7-for-17 shooting. Leading CPP on offense were
Dwayne Fells and
Mitchel Anderson with 12 points apiece while
Matt Rosser added 10 points.
Thanks to seven quick points from Fells, the Broncos jumped out to an early 17-10 advantage. SSU responded with a 9-0 run, which was capped off with an Ashley Arnott three-pointer to give the Seawolves a 19-17 lead with 6:21 to play in the first half.
SSU continued to keep its turnovers low - the visitors tallied four through the first 20 minutes - en route to securing a 28-24 lead at halftime. The 2-for-9 effort from beyond the arc for CPP was a sign of things to come, as the Broncos ended up going 3-for-20 at that range through the entire evening.
Meanwhile, the Seawolves proved effective from three-point range early in the second half. SSU went 4-for-9 there in the closing period and extended its edge to 51-36 with 5:30 to play in regulation. The Broncos didn't back down though, steadily establishing a 13-2 run that featured scoring from six different players and brought the deficit down to four.
All of a sudden though the CPP offense fell silent, hitting just one of its final six field-goal attempts. On the other end, the Seawolves didn't commit a turnover between the 1:41 and 0:04 marks.
Up next for the Broncos will be the 7:30 p.m. Saturday matchup against the Jacks of HSU at Kellogg Gym.
