LANCASTER – The University of Antelope Valley Pioneers (4-10; 2-0 Cal Pac) were victorious Thursday evening in their first contest of 2019, defeating the Keelhaulers of Cal Maritime (8-8; 0-2 Cal Pac), 74-55, in intercollegiate California Pacific Conference men’s basketball action inside the Pioneer Event Center in Lancaster.

Despite the Keelhaulers keeping things close in the first half, UAV would enter halftime with an eight-point advantage and would not look back, outscoring CSUM by 11 points in the second half en route to earning the 19-point conference win, 74-55.

Senior forward Christian Drayton (Lufkin, TX) led all scorers in the game with 14 points and also added nine rebounds and two steals, and junior forward Kane Keil (Auckland, New Zealand), junior center Deividas Mockaitis (Kaunas, Lithuania) and senior guard Ezekiel Armstrong (Lancaster, CA) each added 10 points.

UAV hit 27-of-68 field goals (.397), 10-of-22 three-pointers (.455), 10-of-20 free throws (.500), and outrebounded the Keelhaulers, 49-37. UAV committed 15 turnovers and stole the ball 14 times. CSUM made 19-of-56 shots (.339), 7-of-22 three-pointers (.318) and 10-of-13 free throws (.769) and committed 20 turnovers and stole the ball from UAV four times.

NEXT GAME: Coached by Darwin Cook, the Pioneers remained home to host Pacific Union College for a California Pacific Conference game on Saturday, Jan. 5.