Atherton, Calif. – The men's basketball team won their third straight game, to finish the regular season, by defeating Menlo College 86-76. It is the longest winning streak of the season for the men's basketball team and it couldn't have come at a better time.
Menlo got the scoring starting by hitting their first bucket of the game. But it was all Golden Eagles for the most of the first half.
A 3-point field goal by Lance Jones, gave La Sierra a 21-12 lead, their largest lead of the first half. After some back-and-forth play, Travon White matched the largest lead (33-24) by connecting on a 3-point make of his own, with 6:24 remaining in the half.
But over the remainder of the half, the Oaks chipped away at La Sierra's lead to tie the score at 40-40 heading into the break.
Over the first five minutes of the second half, both teams were jockeying back-and-forth with each team sharing the lead. But a Robert Looper bucket, in the paint, gave the Golden Eagles the lead for good, with 15:18 to play.
Over the final 15 minutes of the game, the Golden Eagles slowly and steadily built their lead to as many as 15 points, cruising to their third straight win and building some much-needed momentum heading into postseason play.
Kevin Batiste finished with a double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds, not to mention five assists and four blocked shots. Robert Looper added a double-double of his own consisting of 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Isaiah Hawkins finished 7-of-12 from the field, including 3-for-4 from the 3-point line, for a total of 17 points. Rounding out the double-figure scorers for La Sierra was Andre Marquez who tallied 11 points, five rebounds, and four assists on the evening.
The men's basketball team finished the regular season with a 5-5 record in Cal Pac play (5-19 overall), and the No. 4 seed in the upcoming Cal Pac Championship Tournament.
With California Maritime's victory over Simpson University earlier in the evening, the Keelhaulers secured the No. 1 seed. Maritime's win also set-up a match-up with La Sierra in the first semifinal game, on Saturday night (February 28), at 6:30pm. The Cal Pac Championship Tournament will be played California Maritime Academy.
The winner of the Golden Eagles/Keelhaulers semifinal, will face-off against the winner of the second semifinal, featuring the No. 2 seed Simpson University and the No. 3 seed Pacific Union College.
