POMONA, Calif. - The Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team kept the good times rolling in a sixth-straight win, 78-59 over Cal State San Marcos, in a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) contest Thursday night inside Kellogg Arena.
 
In extending the conference's longest current win streak, Cal Poly Pomona improves to 8-2 overall and 4-1 in the CCAA. The Broncos were coming off final exams, thus idle since Dec. 7. Cal State San Marcos falls to 5-6 overall and 1-4 in league play.
 
Cal Poly Pomona still has not trailed over the past four contests, and has been behind just a total of 41 seconds of clock time over its last five and a half. The Broncos have produced a remarkable winning margin of 149 points, for an average of 24.8 per game, during this six-game stretch of success.
 
Thursday's result, combined with No. 8 UC San Diego likewise breezing past Sonoma State at home, 84-69, sets up a marquee showdown Sunday in Pomona to wrap up the calendar year in CCAA basketball, as the 2018-19 regular-season co-champion Broncos and Tritons face off. The tip is slated for 3:30 p.m. at Kellogg Arena. UC San Diego and CPP were 1-2 in the preseason coaches' poll, and currently share second place in the standings, one behind Cal State East Bay (5-1) in the win column.
 
Cal Poly Pomona ran out to a 9-2 lead when senior Nikhil Peters' first three-point attempt dropped through from the right wing. Junior Phoenix Shackelford answered a pair of Cougar triples with a jumper as CPP was up 11-8 at the first timeout. Riley Schaefer drilled a corner three for the first points coming out of that break. Redshirt junior Mason Dickerson and Schaefer assisted each other on three-pointers to give the Broncos a 22-13 advantage at the under-eight timeout with 7:11 to go.
 
The hosts again came out of that interruption with a three-pointer, this one by Shackelford, for 25-13. The Broncos later continued to build their lead as Dickerson had a nice spin move in the lane for 31-16. Following a Cougar free throw, Finn Eckhardt tossed in his second three-pointer of the season and junior BJ Standley fed the sophomore seven-footer for an alley-oop dunk for CPP's biggest lead at 36-17.
 
Cal State San Marcos went about nine minutes between made field goals in the back end of the first half, before Alec Frank's three-pointer finally connected at the buzzer as Cal Poly Pomona was ahead 36-21 at the intermission. The Broncos shot 6-for-13 (.462) from long range over those first 20 minutes. CSUSM made just six field goals.
 
After that buzzer-beater to end the first half, the Cougars opened the second with another triple, a three-point play and a pair of free throws as their 11-0 run brought the deficit all the way back down to just seven at 36-29.
 
As per usual, it was William Christmas who almost single-handedly stopped the bleeding, as the senior leader stole the ball and was fouled intentionally in the open court, meaning two free throws, and the ball for CPP. He promptly made both, drove to the basket on the ensuing possession and got fouled, and knocked down two more free ones for a double-digit lead again at 40-29.
 
Shackelford plugged the passing lane for a steal of his own and fed Christmas for a driving layup, and on the next time down the court, hit his own deuce. Moments later, Peters floated in a three-pointer and just like that, Cal Poly Pomona had duplicated that 11-0 run to surge back in front, 47-29, as CSUSM called a timeout.
 
A pull-up Christmas jumper preceded a Khalil Fuller bucket for a final run tally of 13-0. A second alley-oop dunk, again from Standley but this time to former high school and Saint Martin's University teammate Tavian Henderson, made the bulge 20 again at 53-33. They combined on a third CPP alley-oop at the 1:08 mark.
 
Schaefer was true on three-consecutive three-point attempts late, to wind up with a game-high 17 points on the night on 5-of-7 shooting from deep, adding six boards. The five three-point makes were a career high.
 
Christmas finished with 12 points, a game-high nine rebounds, five assists and two steals. That fourth assist, on fellow fourth-year senior Schaefer's triple at the 6:13 mark of the second half, was No. 250 for his career, as Christmas is now a 1,000-point, 500-rebound, 250-assist standout for his illustrious college career.
 
Shackelford contributed 11 points, three assists, two rebounds, and a career-high-matching four steals. Dickerson was a fourth Bronco in double figures, equaling his season best with 12 off the bench. Eckhardt had five points, four boards and a blocked shot. Standley dished out seven assists to lead all players.
 
CPP shot 53.8 percent (28-52) from the field for the game, to just 35.8 percent (19-53) by CSUSM. The Broncos made 12 three-pointers on 26 attempts (46.2), both season highs. They stayed just under their average of 62.4 points allowed per game, which ranked eighth nationally at the start of the day.
 
Sunday's huge affair will begin after the CPP women take on 22nd-ranked reigning CCAA regular-season and tournament champion UC San Diego at 1 p.m. All the action is free to watch on the CCAA Network, either online (ccaanetwork.com), or by downloading the channel on Android, Roku, Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV.
 
Bronco Bits: Cal Poly Pomona started with the same lineup for the 10th game in a row to open the season, of fourth-year seniors William Christmas, Nikhil Peters, Riley Schaefer and Justin Young, and junior Phoenix Shackelford ... Christmas has started 57 games in a row and appeared in the last 80 ... Young has played in each of the past 85 contests ... Having achieved career win No. 400 exactly two weeks ago, 20th-year CPP head coach Greg Kamansky is closing in on another milestone of 300 CCAA wins, currently at 296 ... The Broncos are now 2-1 at home ... CPP took both meetings with CSUSM a year ago, and has won four-straight overall against the Cougars ... Finn Eckhardt is now 2-for-11 from three-point range this season, with Demetrius Williams 5-for-7 after making his lone attempt late in the game.