ROHNERT PARK, Calif. - The Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team began the new year and the new decade in winning fashion over Sonoma State, 77-52, in a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) contest Thursday night at The Wolves' Den.

Cal Poly Pomona was without its leading scorer, fourth-year senior William Christmas, for the first time this season. In his absence, however, true junior guard Phoenix Shackelford took over, eclipsing 20 points for the first time as a collegian with a game- and career-high 22.

With the victory, Cal Poly Pomona improves to 9-3 overall and 5-2 in the CCAA. In extending the conference's longest current losing skid to six games, Sonoma State fell to 3-10 overall and 2-6 in league play. The Broncos, still receiving votes outside of the top 25 of the latest editions of both national polls, leapfrogged Cal State East Bay (9-5, 5-3 CCAA), which suffered an 83-56 loss at Cal State San Marcos, and moved up from a fourth-place tie into a third-place tie in the updated standings.

The Broncos shot a season-high 62.7 percent from the field as a team, connecting on 32 of 51 attempts.

The visitors started 0-for-3 from the field with a turnover over their first four possessions before senior Justin Young's basket in the paint a little more than three minutes in made it 4-2 in favor of the home side.

CPP trailed 9-2 at the first media timeout before BJ Standley, starting in place of Christmas, found Nikhil Peters for an easy layup, with a foul, on the inbounds pass. The free throw was unsuccessful. On the ensuing trip, this time it was redshirt junior Mason Dickerson with the and-one opportunity thanks in large part to a clever pass up ahead by senior Riley Schaefer. Once again, the free throw was no good.

The Broncos continued their rally as Schaefer drove baseline and laid it in down low, and Standley knocked down a pair from the charity stripe to go up for the first time through the 8-0 run, 10-9 at the 13:39 mark.

The Seawolves answered a slick jumper by Shackelford with a 5-0 run to grab a 16-12 advantage. The Fairfield product later added back-to-back tough buckets, but the Broncos trailed 20-18 at the under-eight timeout. Peters' three-pointer regained the edge, 21-20. Shackelford continued his stellar half, gathering Peters' pass and knocking down a wing triple to break a 23-23 tie.

Later, Standley made the steal and sprinted ahead to net a three-point play for 32-29.

The first 20 minutes ultimately featured five lead changes and five tie scores, with CPP taking a 39-33 lead into the break. Shackelford led all players with an already-season-high 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including 2-of-4 from deep.

Cal Poly Pomona came out of the locker room and notched the first four points through Schaefer and Shackelford, to extend to a double-figure advantage for the first time at 43-33. Sonoma State was never closer than eight over the remainder, with the bulge growing to as large as the final margin of 25 as CPP closed on a third Peters triple and a Tavian Henderson layup over the final two minutes.

Shackelford wound up 10-of-15 from the floor. Peters also excelled with his career-high 17 points, going 6-of-8 from the field, 3-of-4 from three-point range and 2-of-3 from the line, while adding two rebounds and a pair of steals. Standley was a third Bronco in double-figure scoring with 10 points. He added game highs of six assists and four steals.

Sophomore big man Finn Eckhardt equaled his collegiate best of nine points, with his third made three-pointer, three rebounds, one assist and a blocked shot. Schaefer matched his nine points, grabbed a career-high-tying nine boards, and collected two assists and two steals.

Isaac Davidson led Sonoma State with his 12 points, seven rebounds, two assists and one steal. CPP, which began the night sixth in Division II in scoring defense at 62.5 points per game, kept the Seawolves well under that average, with the hosts just 4-of-20 from three-point range.

Cal Poly Pomona remains in the Bay Area and will play an afternoon affair at San Francisco State (5-8, 2-5 CCAA) this Saturday. Tipoff inside Main Gym at Don Nasser Family Plaza is slated for 3 p.m., following the women's game. The Gators dropped a 77-68 home decision Thursday to Cal State San Bernardino, which is tied with CPP.

Bronco Bits: Cal Poly Pomona opened with a different lineup for the first time this season in its 12th game, with newcomer BJ Standley replacing William Christmas for his first start as a Bronco alongside Nikhil Peters, Riley Schaefer, Phoenix Shackelford and Justin Young ... Christmas had started 58 games in a row and appeared in the previous 81 ... Young has played in each of the past 87 contests ... Shackelford's previous career high was 18 points, in the 102-99 quadruple-overtime victory over Cal State LA in last year's CCAA Tournament semifinal in Hayward on March 8 ... Peters' career-best scoring effort previously was 12 points, on two occasions ... CPP's previous season high was a .615 shooting percentage from the field versus Saint Katherine on Nov. 29 ... The Broncos are now 7-1 outside of Pomona for 2019-20 ... CPP swept its two-game set with the Seawolves in each of the past two seasons, and has now won five in a row in the all-time series ... The Broncos have won six-straight regular-season meetings with SSU, and seven regular-season matchups in a row at The Wolves' Den ... CPP will face Sonoma State again on Saturday, Feb. 1, in Pomona ... Having achieved career win No. 400 on Dec. 5, 20th-year CPP head coach Greg Kamansky is closing in on another milestone of 300 CCAA wins, currently at 297 ... Kamansky is now 403-162 (.713) over his career and 297-116 (.719) in CCAA games.