Men's Basketball - Tue, Jan 13, 2009
VALLEJO, Calif. - Poor shooting was too much for Menlo College to overcome in a 57-47 California Pacific Conference loss at California Maritime that broughts the Oaks three-game Cal Pac winning streak to a crashing halt on Tuesday night.
After scoring just 19 points on 7-of-28 shooting from the field in the opening half, Menlo was only marginally better after the break when it made 9-of-26 field goal attempts. The Oaks offensive struggles were compounded by a California Maritime front line that won the rebounding battle by 13.
Trailing 30-19 at halftime, Menlo tried to use the same defense-first formula that allowed it to come from 16 points down over the weekend against Pacific Union. Unfortunately, the Oaks managed to outscore the homestanding Keelhaulers by just a single point after halftime, though California Maritime made just 9-of-24 shots from the field.
Brandon Cochran led Menlo with 12 points and five rebounds on the night. Tim Kees added nine points, Julian Harris chipped in eight, and Andrew Young finished with five points and seven rebounds.
A balanced scoring effort paced the Keelhaulers with Alex Raj's double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds the high-water mark. John Stiles, Andrew Johnson, and Zac Kinman each tallied 10 points.
Menlo drops to 3-2 in conference and 5-9 overall heading into a Thursday matchup with Bethany at Haynes-Prim Pavilion at 8 p.m. The Oaks will close out their only three-game Cal Pac week with a visit from Simpson on Saturday night at 7:30. California Maritime is 3-2 in conference and 7-8 overall.