STRING THEORY

By Brandon Petersen

Aaron Strings was perfect Saturday night at La Sierra, where the Warriors upended the Golden Eagles once again, 78-64, to break a brief two-game slump in Cal Pac play.

Westcliff is well on the road to the postseason, but that path would be much clearer if not for a pair of heartbreaking three-point losses in succession to UC Merced and Simpson on the road.

Thankfully, the Dubs will have their chance to clap back in Southern California, and Saturday's resounding win in Riverside is a good sign they are on track to do just that.

But, without further ado, we must discuss Strings, who turned in a basketball anomaly Saturday night.

Check out his line: 8-of-8 from the floor, 3-of-3 from three, 2-of-2 from the line. Shots taken: 10. Shots made: 10. A perfect evening, good for a game-high 21 points.

"Not bad," is an understatement.

But Strings was hardly alone.

Jeremiah Paulino came off the bench and went off to the tune of 16 points of 5-of-7 from the floor.

Paulino was also perfect from three, and the line, hitting three from each stripe.

Rayven Turner continues to provide a spark in head coach Jerred Cook's second wave. Saturday, Turner had 13 and three steals.

Micaiah Hankins, meanwhile, went for 12 with four assists and four rebounds.

Marques Sales had eight, and Evan Hoosier had six.

The Warriors were ridiculous from the floor, shooting 66%, and 53.8% from three.

It's hard to lose when you shoot that well, but the Dubs won the turnover battle for good measure.

Four games remain on the Cal Pac docket.

The Dubs (9-7, 4-2) will do the NorCal two-step next week, stopping off at Maritime and PUC Thursday and Saturday, respectively.

Then the rubber meets the road, when Simpson and UC Merced come calling to close it out Feb. 20^th and 22^nd in SoCal.