Box score

Fresno, Calif. - The Fresno Pacific men's basketball team, currently ranked #14 in the nation, hosted Vanguard University in FPU's Special Event Center earlier this evening. The Sunbirds were hoping to make it eight wins in a row and improve to a perfect 4-0 in the GSAC with a victory. Although FPU got off to a slow start, they were able to eventually take a 51-50 lead with just under 13:00 minutes to play and never looked back, going on to beat the Lions 83-66.

The Sunbirds had trouble getting into a rhythm early on and shot just 44% (14-32) from the field and a sluggish 27% (3-11) from three-point distance in the first half. 

Head coach Jim Saia's FPU squad wasn't about to squander their most recent national ranking and dramatically improved those statistics in the second half. The Sunbirds shot 68% (18-27) from the field and 71% (5-7) from behind the three point line in the second half, which helped them go on to beat Vanguard convincingly by 17.

Junior forward Kendall Holmes and senior forward/guard Marcus West led the Sunbirds in scoring with 17 points each. Holmes had a season best performance and was 6-8 from the field while going a perfect 5-5 from the free-throw line.

Junior forward Todd Brown also contributed going 5-8 from the field, 2-3 from three-point distance, and was 2-2 at the line for a total of 14 points.

With the win, Fresno Pacific improves to 11-3 (4-0 GSAC) and will look to extend their eight game run when they travel to face Hope International University Saturday, January 10th in Fullerton, CA. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30PM.