The Park University Gilbert men's basketball team faced a tall task against Antelope Valley, as they fell in a tight contest to the Pioneers, 85-76.
The Buccaneers led for much of the first half. After holding an early lead, the Pioneers did not retake the lead again until under four minutes left in the first half. From there, they took a 40-35 lead into the halftime break and kept the momentum going into the second half when they grew their lead to double-digits.
The Buccaneers had no trouble making shots. They shot a solid 48.3% from the floor; it was simply a matter of not being able to string together enough makes in a row to cut into the Pioneers' lead.
Where the Pioneers made the winning difference was capitalizing on the Bucs' mistakes. They grabbed 16 offensive rebounds and turned that into 15 second chance points (compared to the Bucs' eight) and turned the Bucs' 18 turnovers into 22 points.
One category the Buccaneers ran away with was bench points, where they won the battle by a wide margin of 51-14. The bench scoring was led by Trail Bates, who scored a career-high 23 points (9-14) to go along with four rebounds, one block and one steal. John Norsworthy III and Erik Palmer also added 12 and 11 points off the bench, respectively.
The Bucs are now 5-21 on the season and 1-9 in conference play with just two games remaining on the schedule.
What's Next
The Buccaneers finish up their back-to-back tomorrow night at La Sierra. That game tips off at 9:30 p.m. Arizona time.
Notes:
All five Bucs' starters were held to seven or fewer points.
Bates' 23 points is the second most scored by a Buccaneer all season, behind Palmer's 31 points CSU-Maritime.
