HAYWARD, Calif., -- The Pioneer men's basketball team was narrowly edged out by #25 ranked Cal Poly Pomona Broncos, 60-58 Friday night, January 26 in Pioneer Gymnasium.
 
East Bay has now moved to 8-13 on the season with a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) mark of 4-11 after suffered their fifth straight loss.
 
The Pioneers had a trio of chances to win the game down the stretch but a missed jump shot, an offensive foul and three-point buzzer beater heave that nearly rimmed off all but sealed the game for CSUEB.
 
After shooting 46.6% (14-for-30) in the opening half of action the Pioneers went cold from the floor after the intermission going just 9-for-32 (28.1%) including 1-for-15 (6.6%) from three-point range.
 
Senior guard Drew Bender (Phoenix, Ariz.) led East Bay with a game high 20 points on 7-for-16 accuracy from the floor. Bender added three rebounds, three steals and an assist in 33 minutes of action. It was his third game scoring 20 or more points.
 
Senior center Kyle Frakes (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) recorded his third double double in the last four games and fourth double double of the season with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Frakes went 5-for-9 from the field while going 6-for-7 from the foul line in 23 minutes on the court.
 
The Pioneer defense forced 13 turnovers from the Broncos and scored 16 points of those turnovers. East Bay also claimed the rebounding advantage, 35-34 over Cal Poly Pomona. The Broncos outscored the Pioneers inside the painted area, 32-28 while also getting 28 points from their reserves to just 17 points from the CSUEB bench.
 
Freshman guard Keshawn Bruner (Sacramento, Calif.) led the East Bay reserves with seven points on 3-for-6 shooting from the field. Jordan Balser (Aubrun, Calif.) added four points and two assists and Patrick Marr (Clayton, Calif.) chipped in four points, three rebounds and two steals.
 
East Bay held a, 34-27 halftime lead and led by as many as 10 points with 10 minutes left in the game. Cal Poly Pomona outscored East Bay, 33-24 in the second half after shooting 44.4% (12-for-27) from the floor.
 
Junior point guard Juwan Anderson (Oakland, Calif.) paced the Pioneers with five assists to go along with five points, five rebounds, two steals and a block.
 
East Bay will round up their weekend home slate when they host Cal State San Bernardino on Saturday evening, January 27 with a 7:30 p.m. tipoff in Pioneer Gymnasium.