POMONA, Calif. - The Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team took control through a 12-0 first-half run, and galloped past Cal State Monterey Bay, 78-55, in a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) game at Kellogg Arena on Senior Night Saturday.

With a third win in a row, Cal Poly Pomona improves to 21-6 overall and 17-5 in the CCAA. The Broncos began the day having already assured themselves a CCAA Tournament bid and a home quarterfinal on Tuesday night as no worse than the No. 4 seed. They sat in a three-way tie for second with Cal State San Bernardino and Chico State. Following the conclusion at Kellogg, the Coyotes lost at home to Cal State East Bay, and even later, the Wildcats outlasted Stanislaus State in overtime in Turlock. That left CPP and Chico State on equal terms, but with their season sweep over the Wildcats, the Broncos nabbed the No. 2 seed.

A third loss in succession saw Cal State Monterey Bay's 2019-20 campaign end at 10-18 overall and 7-15 in league play. The Otters were in 10th and had to win for any chance at the final spot in the field. As it shook out, after Cal State LA and Cal State San Marcos both suffered defeats earlier in the day, with tiebreakers, a victory would indeed have extended Monterey Bay's season into the CCAA tourney. The Otters won just two games a year ago.

Fittingly, senior William Christmas scored CPP's first four points, sandwiched around a pair of Otter baskets. Justin Young notched the Broncos' very next bucket for 6-6, and a third fourth-year senior, Riley Schaefer, later hit a three-pointer to break a 13-13 tie.

The CPP run extended to 10-0 as junior Phoenix Shackelford scored and within moments, Christmas swished a wing triple, forcing the visitors into their first timeout, down eight at 21-13 with 11:44 to go.

The stretch advanced to 12-0 coming out of that timeout, as junior BJ Standley beautifully found sophomore Finn Eckhardt for a layup underneath. Two Jahvon Johnson free throws finally ended the spurt.

Back-to-back three-pointers by redshirt junior Mason Dickerson, around a Damian Wilson jumper for the Otters, stretched the Bronco lead to 12 at the under-eight break, 29-17. CPP continued to force the issue, getting successive two-point makes from Standley and Dickerson, the latter a fast-break layup following a Christmas steal.

Cal Poly Pomona's fourth and final fourth-year senior, Nikhil Peters, knocked down his only three-pointer of the night for a 38-22 bulge at the 3:28 mark. Junior Tavian Henderson picked off an errant pass in the Otter backcourt and went in for the emphatic dunk while getting fouled, though he missed the free one to leave the score at 41-25. The Broncos were up 44-30 at halftime after Schaefer's corner three beat the buzzer.

Christmas led all players with his 13 first-half points, with Dickerson adding eight. All nine Broncos who saw action, made a field goal.

Cal Poly Pomona kept building its advantage in the second period, never leading by less than 12. Significant moments included an early Young dunk, and another fast-break Dickerson layup from a Christmas theft, with the Long Beach product completing the three-point play for 58-41.

Christmas finished with a game-high 15 points, adding a team-best eight rebounds to go with game highs again of six assists and five steals, and one blocked shot. Dickerson had a season-high 13 on 5-of-6 shooting, making both three-point tries and his lone free throw. Shackelford joined him as a double-figure scorer in a reserve role, with 12. Schaefer, Young and Peters had nine, six and five points, respectively, with five boards apiece. Henderson went 3-for-3 for seven points, with six rebounds, one block, and season-high-tying totals of three assists and two steals.

Cal Poly Pomona forced 23 turnovers while committing just nine.

Christmas, Schaefer, Peters and Young, all with over 100 appearances as Broncos, were recognized ahead of tip-off. With the result well in hand, 20th-year head coach Greg Kamansky substituted out the entire quartet to applause with 1:39 to go after Schaefer found Young for a dunk.

Cal Poly Pomona has one more home date remaining, to begin its postseason run, this Tuesday night against seventh-seeded Cal State Dominguez Hills (14-14, 10-12 CCAA) in the CCAA Tournament quarterfinals. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. at Kellogg Arena, after the CPP women contest their CCAA tourney opener at 5:30 p.m. Both games are 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. Admission is free for CPP students.

The teams split the regular-season series, each winning at home.

Bronco Bits: For the fifth game in a row and fifth time this season, Cal Poly Pomona started the lineup of fourth-year seniors William Christmas, Nikhil Peters, Riley Schaefer and Justin Young, alongside junior BJ Standley ... Peters and Schaefer are the lone Broncos who have started all 27 contests ... Over the first 27 games, Christmas has had at least a share of the team high in points 12 times, and game high 10 ... Christmas matched his season high of 18 field goal attempts ... Mason Dickerson scored in double figures for the fourth time this year and ninth time as a collegian, with a career high of 19 coming back as a true freshman on Dec. 30, 2016 ... Redshirt freshman Demetrius Williams took one shot in his 1:41 of action, hitting the three-pointer to improve to 10-of-15 (.667) from long range ... CPP finished in single digits in turnovers for the third time this year, and second in the last four contests ... The Broncos forced 20-plus turnovers for the ninth time ... The Broncos are 9-2 at home in 2019-20 ... Cal Poly Pomona began the day Friday sixth in Division II in scoring defense (63.2) and seventh in field goal percentage defense (40.1), allowing marks Saturday of 55 and 40.8, respectively ... CPP has won seven-straight meetings with the Otters, and three in a row in Pomona, since a 67-65 home loss on Feb. 11, 2016 ... The Broncos had rallied from 18 down with five minutes to go in the first half, to win by 18, 93-75, in this year's first matchup in Seaside on Nov. 23 ... Greg Kamansky is 415-165 (.716) over his career and 309-119 (.722) in CCAA play.