Three Keelhaulers score double figures at Simpson

REDDING, Calif. – Even though the score was tied at 38 in Thursday's designated non-conference game at the James M. Grant Center in Redding, a large free throw discrepancy was the only thing that kept the score close through 20 minutes of action.

In the first half, the Keelhaulers shot 52 percent from the floor versus the Red Hawks' 38 pct., nailed five shots from three compared to Simpson's one and led for 45 percent of the game, up to halftime. 

Who knows what the score would have looked like at the break if host Simpson did not make 13 of 15 attempts at the line.

By keeping the score close and preventing Cal Maritime to run away with the lead, a realistic possibility with the way it played from the opening tip until halftime, the Red Hawks responded in by snapping a 42-42 tie with a 16-2 scoring run midway through the second half, then withstood the Keelhaulers' comeback charge to hold on and record a 85-67 victory in the first of three meetings between the two this season.

Cal Maritime will return to Redding on January 21 for the opening half of the Cal Pac series before hosting Simpson in each team's season finale exactly one month later.

Chiron Pham and Luka Popovic each scored a team-high 11 points with Lawrence Long adding another 10. Nick Stone ended his night with nine points and matched Long's team-high rebound total of seven.

Since the team is off for the remainder of this week, and the following week due to finals, it will not return to action until December 17 when it hosts Pacific Union, in non-conference action, in the first of two games played at PEAC Main Gym within a 19-hour timespan. This brief two-game homestand ends the following day with a 1 p.m. matchup versus Division-III program Whittier College.