The six-foot-four-inch McCullar caught a short pass from Tim Kees, who pushed the ball up court after Pacific Union's Danny Sepulveda tied the score with 11 seconds left, and calmly knocked down a wide-open attempt from the right elbow of the key. There seemed to be more doubt regarding McCullar's ability to beat the buzzer than to knock down the shot as the junior forward was deliberate with his release, which just beat the final horn. The shot was true and McCullar held his follow through as his teammates stormed his way.

It was a perfect end for a Menlo team that entered the night on an eight-game losing streak. The Oaks had blown a large lead, lost by no more than a basket, or both in five of their six most recent losses, three of which came in conference play.

The set-up to McCullar's heroics eerily mirrored Menlo's fortunes of late. The Oaks stormed out of the gate in what amounted to a must-win game considering their recent struggles to put Cal Pac foes away. Julian Harris jump-started the offense with back-to-back baskets as Menlo ran out to an 11-1 lead through five minutes of play.

From there the Oaks kept Pacific Union at arm's length, never letting the Pioneers closer than seven points as Menlo built a 30-15 advantage. Harris stuck a jumper before Dejon Grant finished at the basket twice in transition to cap a six-point spurt that gave the Oaks their largest lead.

Menlo's luck appeared to be in short supply, however, as Pacific Union answered with a five-point possession to cut into the Oaks cushion. It was part of a 9-0 run coinciding with a three minute, 40 second Menlo scoring drought that Brent McHone ended seconds before halftime with an easy layup off a Tim Kees steal to put the Oaks ahead 32-24 at the break.

The sneaking suspicion that Pacific Union would find itself in the thick of a close contest grew as the Pioneers rattled off eight consecutive points early in the second half to pull within 37-34 with less than five minutes off the clock. Menlo refused to give in to the fear and rattled off a dominant stretch of its own to keep the visitors in check.

McCullar made one free throw and Tyler Rajnus added two more - all on the same possession - to double Menlo's lead before the teams shared in some sloppy play that kept the scoreboard static. Rajnus used his size to finish from a Grant pass, which Pacific Union's Brandon Monty answered with a jumper to keep his team within six points.

The stretch belonged to the streaking Oaks, though. Harris sunk a jumper and followed with a 3-pointer off a crosscourt pass from McCullar, who then grabbed a defensive rebound that led to a driving Grant score for a 49-36 advantage with 11 minutes, 32 seconds to play.

With the game fading fast for Pacific Union, the Pioneers made a big move during a four-minute stretch shortly after. Kameron Barnes and Andrew Webster each stuck huge 3-pointers as Pacific Union put the finishing touches on a 15-3 run to trimmed Menlo's advantage to 52-51 with just more than six minutes left.

Rajnus came through with one of the game's most important sequences one minute and change later. The lanky junior was fouled and hit his first free throw. After his second effort was off, Kees grabbed a long rebound for the Oaks and fed Rajnus for a three-point play to reestablished a two-possession lead for Menlo at 56-51 with less than five minutes left.

Will Bell and Brandon Monty each scored a basket to pull Pacific Union within a point before Barnes scored as he was fouled to give the Pioneers their first lead of the game. Barnes completed the three-point play for a 58-56 lead and two minutes, 24 seconds on the clock.

Menlo could have wilted and looked like it might be doing so when Harris threw the ball out of bounds on the ensuing possession, but Kees made a steal on the baseline late in Pacific Union's following possession to give the Oaks another chance to tie the score. Drew Davis did just that when he canned a pull-up jumper from a McCullar assist with one minute, 18 seconds to play.

More stellar defense got Menlo the ball back with less than a minute to play and McCullar was fouled inside and sent to the free throw line. With 31.8 seconds left he hit both shots for a 60-58 Oaks advantage. Following a timeout, the recently inserted Sepulveda knotted the score with an inside basket and just 11 seconds left, but the Oaks pushed the ball and Kees found McCullar for the winner.

Harris scored a team-high 14 points for Menlo while Rajnus came through for a big 10 points and six rebounds. McCullar finished with seven points and six rebounds, Grant scored eight, and Kees scored five points with four assists and three steals. Ryan Dung and Andrew Young chipped in seven points apiece.

Monty led Pacific Union with 17 points, but was just 8-for-21 from the field. Webster scored 15 with Barnes coming though with 12 points and 11 rebounds.