RIVERSIDE — Brandon Boyd caught fire and led California Baptist University to its first Western Athletic Conference win of the season, as the Lancers opened the New Year with a 76-67 victory over The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on Thursday.
This marks the second straight year the Lancers have opened up WAC play undefeated. Last season, the Lancers stunned the conference favorite NM State in an 82-76 victory in the CBU Events Center.Â
With the win, the Lancers extend their win streak to seven in a row for a conference-best 10-4 on the season. CBU and Gonzaga are tied with the seventh longest active winning streak in the country. San Diego State tops the list with a 14-game streak while Auburn has the second longest at 12 games. Memphis and Baylor are tied at third with nine consecutive victories and Creighton and Indiana State are knotted at fifth with eight. There are currently six other schools tied at ninth with winning streaks of six games.
CBU will welcome NM State for the second time to the Events Center on Saturday, Jan. 4, at 7 p.m. Saturday's game against the Aggies will serve as Inland Empire Appreciation Night, with tickets on sale for two dollars. Get your tickets here.
Boyd finished with a career-high 25 points, scoring 20 in the second half to lead the charge for the Lancers. He also added five rebounds, four assists, and two steals in his 38 minutes of action. The senior transfer from Idaho State made 7-of-11 shots from the field, 3-6 from three, and was a perfect 8-8 from the free-throw line.
Milan Acquaah and Ferron Flavors Jr. joined Boyd in double-digit scoring. Acquaah scored 19 on 5-11 shooting and a perfect 9-9 from the stripe, while Flavors poured in 14 and grabbed six rebounds. Zach Pirog also had a big night, finishing with eight points and a team-high eight rebounds.Â
The Lancers were in the driver seat for most of the first half, as Pirog and Glenn Morison did most of the heavy lifting.Â
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The two big men helped CBU keep its lead for the first 14 minutes, but the Vaqueros flipped the script after a driving layup by Varner II at the 4:26 mark.Â
The Varner layup helped spark an 8-0 run, giving the Vaqueros their largest lead of the game, 35-27, with two minutes to go.Â
Acquaah took it upon himself to get the Lancers back in the game, as the junior scored six of the Lancers' seven points in the final two minutes. He did most of his damage on the free-throw line, but he gave the crowd some life in the final seconds, beating the buzzer with a turnaround jumper.Â
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The Acquaah jumper brought the first half score to 37-34 in favor of UTRGV. It marked the first time since Nov. 27 that the Lancers went into the locker room trailing at the half.Â
In the second half, Boyd became the spark plug the Lancers needed. He helped cap off a 6-0 run with a step back to bring the Lancers within one, 41-40.Â
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Boyd then gave the Lancers their first lead at the 14:58 mark with another nice move on his defender.Â
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With momentum on their side and the red hot shooting from Boyd, the Lancers grew their lead to double digits at the 10:14 mark.Â
The game ended with the Lancers on the free-throw line, as the Vaqueros did everything in their power to chip away at the deficit. In the final two minutes, CBU went 9-11 from the free-throw line to close out the Vaqueros.Â
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