POMONA – In a close battle to the end, the Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team came up just short against Cal State San Marcos, losing 69-64 at Kellogg Arena on Tuesday night.


THE BASICS:
Final: Cal State San Marcos 69, Cal Poly Pomona 64
Records: CSUSM (18-4, 13-3 CCAA), CPP (16-5, 13-4 CCAA)
Location: Kellogg Arena I Pomona, Calif.


HOW IT HAPPENED:
-    The Cougars kicked off the scoring on the night, hitting a three for the first points of the game.
-    CSUSM held onto the lead until just under the 13th-minute mark in the first half as Phoenix Shackelford drained a three to go up 11-10. 
-    CPP edged out the Cougars in shooting percentage, 41 to 38 percent while San Marcos finished 24-of-28 from the free throw line compared to 5-of-12 from the Broncos.
-    Both teams traded back and forth before San Marcos settled with a 31-27 lead at the break.
-    After trading points to start the second half, the Broncos scored seven straight points, capped off by a three-pointer from William Christmas.
-    The Cougars regained the lead, hitting three three-pointers in a row to go up 43-40.
-    With 10:48 to play, Christmas hit another three to give the Broncos a 47-45 advantage.
-    San Marcos continued to battle, taking a 63-60 lead with 1:02 left to play.
-    A big three by Quentin Taylor tied the game with 46 seconds to play before the Cougars answered back with another three.
-    Free throws by both teams kept it a three-point game with the Broncos rebounding the ball in the final 10 seconds but were unable to get a shot off, losing the ball out of bounds as the Cougars held on to win.

KEY PERFORMERS: 
-    Taylor finished with a team-high 15 points while collecting six rebounds and two steals.
-    Behind him was Christmas who tallied 12 points along with Shackelford who also added 12 points.
-    Jordan Ogundiran totaled eight points and six rebounds while Chris Sullivan grabbed eight boards

OUTSIDE THE BOX: 
-    For the first time this season, the Broncos suffered back to back losses after falling to Stanislaus State on Thursday night.
-    The Broncos move out of first-place into second, having the same amount of conference wins as San Marcos with one more loss.
-    These two teams will rematch on Saturday night for another chance at the top conference spot.

COMING UP NEXT:
The Broncos hit the road for the rest of the week, playing at UC San Diego on Friday before traveling to Cal State San Marcos.