SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - The Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team broke a 17-17 tie with a 29-8 run to end the first half, and cruised past the University of Saint Katherine, 98-50, on the first night of the CSUSB Thanksgiving Classic Friday night at Coussoulis Arena.

With a second-straight win, Cal Poly Pomona moves to 4-2 overall. Saint Katherine came in at 2-7 with five-consecutive defeats, and remains that way as the game went down as an exhibition for the NAIA Firebirds, who hail from San Marcos.

Riley Schaefer produced a career-high 21 points, reaching the 20-point mark for the second game in a row while shooting an identical 9-for-14 from the field. William Christmas added 19, with the fourth-year seniors taking a seat early in the blowout.

USK led for its first and only time, 10-9, at 14:08 of the first half after a three-point play by Zethan Dumpson. The fifth and final tie score was at 17-17.

Junior Phoenix Shackelford's three-pointer from the left wing made it 20-17, and the Broncos led the rest of the way. Christmas picked Isaac Ramirez's pocket with the shot clock winding down, and dribbled one-on-one for an easy basket while getting fouled, adding the free throw for a 23-17 lead at 8:56. Junior Tavian Henderson then found Christmas underneath for a tomahawk dunk to complete the 8-0 run at 25-17.

Later in the half with 2:21 to go, senior Justin Young provided the nifty assist to a trailing Schaefer for the simple layup. Young then took a pass from redshirt junior Mason Dickerson, drove the baseline and flushed it, with a foul, for 42-25. Schaefer grabbed the rebound of his own three-point miss and laid it in to beat the buzzer.

CPP forced 16 turnovers over the first 20 minutes, while committing just four. Schaefer had 15 of his points in the period, with Christmas close behind at 14.

The second half was a comfortable one for the Broncos, the bulge growing to as many as the 48 points that accounted for the final margin. Their 98 points are a season high as CPP has eclipsed 90 in back-to-back routs, with the 50 allowed also a low for 2019-20. Cal Poly Pomona shot at a .615 clip (40-65), its best for this early going, and was successful on a season-best eight three-pointers (8-23).

Demetrius Williams was the star following the interval, as the redshirt freshman out of Pleasanton in the Bay Area, connected on each of his first three collegiate shot attempts, all from three-point range. In fact, all four of his shots were from deep, from pretty much the exact same spot, between the right wing and right baseline. His first came with 10:10 left, and was banked in from that narrow angle as Williams' teammates went wild on the bench. Then it was like instant replay on successive trips with under four minutes to go, as Finn Eckhardt grabbed a rebound and pushed it ahead to BJ Standley, who found Williams wide open for smooth triples. A heat-check try finally was off the mark on the very next possession.

With 4:25 left in the contest, Standley stole the ball and fed Henderson for a terrific alley-oop dunk. The junior newcomer had a season- and game-high six assists.

Eckhardt, a sophomore, matched his season best of four points, and was credited with a career-high five assists. Sione Lauese, Jr., like Williams a redshirt freshman, also played added minutes and contributed personal highs of seven points and four rebounds. Shackelford joined Schaefer and Christmas in double figures, with 11.

CPP ultimately forced a season-high 26 turnovers and committed a season-low seven. The Broncos wound up with a season best of 25 assists as well.

The Broncos remain in non-conference action on Saturday night, concluding its involvement in the CSUSB Thanksgiving Classic against Texas A&M International. Tip-off at Coussoulis Arena on the campus of host Cal State San Bernardino is again set for 5 p.m., with the contest airing live, for free, on the CCAA Network.

Bronco Bits: Cal Poly Pomona began with the same starting lineup for the sixth game in a row to open the season, of William Christmas, Nikhil Peters, Riley Schaefer, Phoenix Shackelford and Justin Young ... Christmas has started 53-straight games and appeared in 76 in a row ... Young has appeared in 81-consecutive contests ... Christmas, who was only needed for a season-low 19 minutes, had his string of games with 20-plus points snapped at three, finishing with 19 ... Schaefer's game-high 21 points also came in a season-low 21 minutes ... Of the four boards Christmas was credited with in the first half, the initial one was milestone career rebound No. 500 for the fourth-year senior ... Christmas is thus now a member of the 1,000-point, 500-rebound club, as his final point of the 2018-19 campaign at the NCAA West Regional in San Diego was No. 1,000 ... The Broncos are in full Kamansky Watch mode, as head coach Greg Kamansky is now at 398 overall wins and still 293 CCAA wins for his 20-year career at CPP ... CPP was playing USK for the second year in a row, having defeated the Firebirds, 91-61, in Pomona last Nov. 14.