BOX SCORE #5 Cal Poly Pomona 73, Sonoma State 59 – Box Score

POMONA, Calif. – Justin Herold came off the bench to score tie his season-high of 20 points on 6 of 9 from the field and a perfect 8 for 8 from the free throw line, but the Sonoma State men's basketball team fell short of an upset and the 2012-13 season comes to an end with a 73-59 loss to host Cal Poly Pomona on Tuesday night at Kellogg Gym in Pomona. 

The Seawolves, who came into the ballgame as the No. 8 seed in the eight-team CCAA Basketball Championship Tournament, ends their season at 11-16 overall.  The top-seeded and fifth-ranked Broncos (25-2) will advance to the semifinals on Friday against No. 4 seed San Francisco State, which earned a 57-47 home win over No. 5 Cal State L.A. on Tuesday.

While Sonoma State trailed early, 11-4 just 3:39 into the contest to be specific, going just 1 for 8 on offense, Jabri Jenkins and Justin Herold later engineered a 13-0 run for the Seawolves, who took a 17-11 lead at the 11:21 mark.  However, just as quickly as SSU went on its run, CPP responded with a run of their own.  In fact, the Broncos were unstoppable and went the final 10:10 of the first half on a deflating 27-6 run to grab a dominating 38-23 lead at the intermission.  Sonoma was just 7 for 23 in the final minutes of the half, accounting for the 15-point deficit.

The Bronco lead remained at double-digits for the entire second half – the closest the Seawolves would get the rest of the way would be a 10-point deficit on a dunk by Patrick Scott with 12:22 left in the game, but Cal Poly Pomona then scored 12 unanswered points over the next two minutes to hold a 60-38 lead, essentially putting the game away.

Sonoma State, which came into the night as the CCAA's leader in field goal percentage at 48.6, was held to just 39.1 percent from the floor on 21 of 50.  From three-point range, the Seawolves dropped in just 4 of 20, a 20-percent efficiency.  While Herold led with 20, Will Olsem was the only other SSU player in double-figures with 11; he was just 4 of 11 from the hardwood, including 3 of 10 from the arc.  No other Seawolf scored more than six points.

Mitchel Anderson, who was named the CCAA's Player of the Year earlier in the day, led all players with 23 points and 10 rebounds in 34 minutes of play.  Mohamed Fall netted 14 while Daniel Rodriguez came off the bench to chip in with 10.  Cal Poly Pomona had the hot hand, connecting on 51.7 percent of its shots on 30 of 58 shooting. 

It was the fourth CCAA tournament appearance in the past five seasons for Sonoma State, but it was also the fourth loss in the last five postseason games since 2008-09.  Tuesday's loss marks the end of four seniors' career – Andrew Bolton, Will Olsem, Patrick Scott and Ryan Stanley.  Olsem and Scott, who were both named to the All-CCAA First Team earlier in the day, end their careers as 1,000-point scorers – Olsem is third on the all-time list at 1,236 and Scott finishes at No. 7 with 1,139 career points.