The Cal State Stanislaus men's basketball team shot lights-out in the second half as the Warriors defeated tournament host Fresno Pacific, 71-65, Saturday afternoon.
The Warriors shot 72 percent from the field in the second half of a closely contested game to go 2-0 at the FPU Thanksgiving Shootout to improve to 3-0 on the season.
Reggie Jones, who was 7-for-8 in the second half before the 8-for-10 final count, led the way with 16 points. Vincent Fuller scored 13, including three three-pointers, with eight assists. Ronnie Sawyer knocked in 14 points for the Warriors.
As a team, Cal State Stanislaus was 18-for-25 from the field in the second half before finishing on a 58 percent shooting night (29-for-50). They nailed 8 of 19 three-point tries (42.1 percent).
Fresno Pacific (5-2) was led by Eric Hipolito with 20 points on 8 of 11 shooting. He also had nine rebounds.
Cal State Stanislaus held a one-point, 31-30, lead at the break before turning it on in the second half. But even with the hot shooting the Warriors couldn't pull away. Their biggest lead was eight after a Jones jumper with 13:04 left to play.
Fresno Pacific shot just 39.3 percent in the second half but stayed in the game by out-rebounding the Warriors. The final rebound count was 38-25 advantage Sunbirds. FPU also got to the line more often, converting on 13 of 23 tries.
The Sunbirds rallied late and took a two-point lead with 3:08 left to play but three pointers by Fuller and Sawyer, sandwiched by a Jones bucket, gave Stanislaus a 69-63 lead with 68 ticks left.
Marcus Walters also chipped in eight points with six rebounds to pace the Stanislaus. The Warriors will hit the road with a pair of CCAA games, first against Cal Poly Pomona on Thursday and San Francisco State on Saturday.