POMONA, Calif. - During a 66-59 victory over Cal State Monterey Bay on Friday night, Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball held a slim lead throughout as the visiting Otters' squad came to play.
 
Remaining atop the conference standings comes with its challenges. On Friday night, CPP got tested but ultimately earned the victory. 
 
With Terrence Drisdom and Barry Bell leading the way with 14 and 12 points, respectively, the Broncos featured a balanced attack.
 
Defensively Jordan Faison was the standout with 12 boards on the night. Drisdom followed at seven, while Chad Haysbert and Francois Tchoyi racked up five each. The Green and Gold outrebounded the Otters 40-29 in the contest, while collecting twice as many steals and blocks as Monterey.
 
CPP committed just nine turnovers in the matchup and put up 11 second-chance points.
 
The Broncos' victory improves them to an overall tally of 14-4 with a 10-3 mark in CCAA play. CPP remains tied with Chico State and Cal State Stanislaus atop the conference standings. CSUMB drops to a 5-8 mark in conference with a 9-10 overall tally.
 
Daniel Rodriguez put up the first point in the game with a layup off a pass from Drisdom and then the Otters answered back with a three-pointer. The game was certainly a defensive showing in the first half, as only 19 total field goals were made in 20 minutes.
 
The Broncos had their largest run of the game just before halftime with a nine-point spree that started with a Tchoyi tip-in and ended with a Bell free throw. The two teams entered the break with a score of 30-22 to the Broncos' advantage.
 
Scoring in the second half was reminiscent of a pendulum, Broncos, Otters, Broncos, Otters, and so on. The largest run of the half came for the home team, when CPP went on a 5-0 run between the 9:02 and 5:34 marks. It broke open an eight-point gap and the game never fell back to a one-posssesion margin.
 
Despite Monterey Bay going 14-for-29 from the field in the second half, the Broncos showed more intensity in rebounding and only allowed the Otters to grab 11 boards in the final 20 minutes.
 
The Broncos will return to action at Kellogg Gym Saturday night with a 7:30 p.m. start against Cal State East Bay.