Riverside, Calif. - La Sierra was unable to hang on for their first win of the season, eventually falling 73-69 to Pacific Union College, in a Cal Pac match-up. The Pioneers connected on 11 3-point attempts, which helped erase a halftime deficit and overcome 23 turnovers. The Golden Eagles will turn the page and set their sights on California Maritime Academy, in what will be a rematch of last season's conference championship game.

The Golden Eagles wasted no time in getting their feet wet as they dove into the contest head first, as they jumped out to a 17-point advantage midway through the first half. The Pioneers clawed their way back to trail 37-28 by the end of the first half.

Pacific Union closed the gap further at the start of the second half of play and caught the Golden Eagles just prior to the midway point of the half. With just under seven minutes to play, the Pioneers pushed their lead to 10 points only to have the Golden Eagles answer back.

La Sierra cut the lead to two with about one minute to play but that would be as close as they would get, as the Pioneers would sneak out with the narrow victory in the final tally.

The Pioneers had two players who scored 20 points in the game. Ben Jazuk finished 6-for-13 from the field with all six of his field goals coming from beyond the arc.

Guard Isaac Deese led the Golden Eagles with 19 points to go along with five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Lance Jones added 15 points and five rebounds, while Rey Solorzano pitched witn with 11 points, seven rebounds, three assists and one steal.

The Golden Eagles men's basketball team will head out onto the road starting with a rematch of last year's conference championship game, in which La Sierra fell in overtime to the Keelhaulers of California Maritime Academy. The Golden Eagles will face the Keelhaulers on Thursday, and then travel to the University of California- Merced for a Saturday night match-up.