THREE STRAIGHT

By Brandon Petersen

The Westcliff men's basketball team remained unbeaten on the young Cal Pac season with a 78-71 win over Cal Maritime Saturday at Golden West College.

The Warriors are starting to trend in the right direction, mainly because they've turned their focus away from the three-point line and toward the paint, where Evan Hoosier has been happy to oblige with high shooting percentages, and double-doubles.

Once again, the Warriors went to the big man Saturday, and once again, the big man provided, this time turning in a game-high 18 on 8-of-9 shooting.

Micaiah Hankins, meanwhile, did his thing, turning in 15 and handing out five assists, while collecting four boards and two steals.

Jeramiah Paulino was instrumental in getting the Warriors going in the first half and finished with a tidy 13 to complement three assists.

Marques Sales contributed five boards to go with his four, and Cameron Snyder, Julian Dixon and Rodney Guillory all chimed in with three.

Rayven Turner came off the bench once again, and once again produced, this time turning in eight boards to complement his seven points.

The biggest contribution off the bench came from Aaron Strings, who had a fantastic evening, finishing with 12 and seven, three assists, two steals and a pair of blocks.

Despite being outrebounded and losing the turnover battle, Westcliff's shooting proved to be the deciding factor.

The Dubs shot nearly 60% from the floor and a gaudy 43.8% from the three. But that clip came on just 17 tries (six were good), a fantastic sign for a team that should be focused down low.

Make that three straight to open the Cal Pac, but the seas get decidedly rougher next week.

The Warriors (8-5, 3-0) travel north to meet UC Merced.

Tip Thursday is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.