Watch: Game Highlights

HAYWARD, Calif. -- The Cal State East Bay men's basketball team closed out a dramatic day of hoops at Pioneer Gym by outlasting Cal State LA, 70-69, Saturday afternoon.

The Pioneers remain unbeaten in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play and are off to the program's best start of the CCAA era at 7-1 overall. 

The game was extremely tight for all 40 minutes, as the lead changed hands 14 times and neither team led by more than six points at any point.

The Pioneers were remarkably efficient in the first half, shooting 63 percent from the field as a team. They also scored 14 points at the free throw line in the first 20 minutes, the lion's share of which came from Ant Navarrete, who had success drawing contact all afternoon, and Juwan Anderson, who led all scorers with 14 points in the opening half. However, the Pioneers committed 14 turnovers, which prevented them from making an extended run, and the teams went into halftime separated by just one point.

Cal State LA briefly grabbed a lead shortly after the break, but East Bay got some huge buckets from Evan Wardlow, who scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half. The extremely talented Golden Eagle squad had four players score in double figures and they tallied nine offensive rebounds down the stretch, but the Pioneers played consistently outstanding defense to force difficult shots.

Navarrete scored in transition with just over eight minutes left to put East Bay up 61-59, and then Patrick Marr converted a three-point play on the next possession, and the home team never relinquished that lead. They clung to a one-point advantage in the final minute when Nai Carlisle found Navarrete on the baseline, and the junior scored on a reverse layup to make it 70-67. 

The Golden Eagles answered back to make it it 70-69, and then the Pioneers ticked the clock as far down as they could before Wardlow missed a pull-up jumper that would've iced it. However, it was fitting for this CSUEB squad that their victory should end on the defense end. CSULA's Jihad Woods got off a shot in the paint that rattled off the rim in the final seconds, and the buzzer sounded as the players scrambled for the rebound.

Navarrete finished with a team-high 16 points, going 4-for-7 from the floor and 8-for-13 at the foul line. He also pulled in seven boards.

Carlisle, Marr, and Trent Warren finished with seven points apiece. Carlisle also matched Anderson for the team lead with four assists, while Marr grabbed a team-best eight rebounds. 

The Pioneers out-shot the Golden Eagles 51 percent to 39 percent overall, held them to 3-for-24 from three-point range, and narrowly out-rebounded them by a margin of 38-35.

Today's win keeps the Pioneers perfect at home, notching five wins in five chances in Hayward, but this will be the team's final home game until 2019. East Bay nexts embarks on a four-game road trip, which starts Thursday, Dec. 6 at Sonoma State.