HAYWARD, Calif. -- The Cal State East Bay men's basketball team's magical season continued on Saturday afternoon with yet another narrow victory. The Pioneers erased a 10-point second half deficit to edge visiting Sonoma State by a final score of 66-65.

The victory improves CSUEB to 20-5, gives them a season sweep of the Seawolves, and keeps them in first place in a tight race battle atop the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) standings.

This marks the first time the Pioneers have reached 20 wins in a season since 1999-00. It's the first time they have won 20 games as a Division II program since 1985-86, a season that ended with the Pioneers hanging their second straight West Region championship banner.

Today's game was grind from the outset, as Sonoma gave East Bay everything it could handle. It was a one-possession game for the last 10 minutes of the opening half, and the teams went into the break separated by just two points. 

The visitors snatched momentum early in the second half, going on a 10-0 run and stretching their lead to 11 points. It was 55-45 with 11 minutes left when the Pioneers finally mounted a comeback. Ant Navarrete was red-hot from the field during that stretch -- and, really, all afternoon -- almost single-handedly bringing them back.

The Pioneers chipped away at their deficit over the latter part of the half, and with 2:26 left Trent Warren knocked down a three-pointer to bring CSUEB within one. On the next possession, Evan Wardlow came up with an offensive rebound and found Navarrete under the basket to give East Bay its first lead of the half. 

The Seawolves took the lead back on free throws, giving the Pioneers the ball with 39 seconds left. Warren drive to the basket and drew a foul, then calmly buried both shots to put East Bay ahead by one. Sonoma had a chance on the other end, but Jordan Hickman's jumper was off line, and the rebound ended in a jump ball that gave possession to the Pioneers with just two seconds left. They managed to avoid a foul on the inbounds pass, allowing the buzzer to sound and cementing the one-point win.

Navarrete turned in a monster effort, going 13-for-15 from the floor and notching his seventh double-double of the season with 28 points and 12 rebounds. It stands as the highest single-game scoring output by a Pioneer this season. After scoring 22 points two days ago against SF State, Navarrete finished the week with a ridiculous .800 field goal percentage (24-for-30). 

Wardlow also came up with some huge buckets and finished with 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting. Warren reached double figures as well with 10 points off the bench. Juwan Anderson had a tough shooting night, but tallied a game-high seven assists.

The Pioneers shot an even 50 percent as a team for the game and finished with a significant advantage on the glass, out-rebounding SSU 35-26. In addition Navarrete, Patrick Marr was excellent on the boards with nine rebounds in 20 minutes.

CSUEB has only one game on the schedule next week, and it's the final home game of the regular season. The Pioneers will celebrate Senior Day prior to their 3 p.m. showdown with Cal State Monterey Bay. On Wednesday, they'll get to see where the NCAA committee has them stacked up against the rest of the West when the first official regional rankings are released.