Cal Poly Humboldt Athletics

The Cal Poly Humboldt Lumberjacks are one of the hottest teams in CCAA men’s basketball right now.

On Thursday night, the Jacks stretched their winning streak to four straight with a thrilling 57-55 win at Cal Poly Pomona to go to 7-6 in conference and 11-7 overall.

The four straight wins is the second longest winning streak in the CCAA and Thursday’s win followed a stunning victory over conference leaders Cal State Dominguez Hills last Saturday.

Thursday’s win snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Broncos and marks the first victory over Pomona since December 31, 2018.

The Jacks’ four-game winning streak is the program’s longest since 2021.

Marsai Mason was instrumental in the win, finishing with a career-high 15 rebounds and 10 points, including the game-winning basket on a tip-in with just 24 seconds remaining.

“It wasn’t a pretty win, but it was a gritty one,” CPH head coach Chris Tifft said. “Our ability to win an emotional game like we did last Saturday versus Dominguez Hills and then come to Pomona with the kind of focus we did tonight is encouraging and a step in the right direction.

“We did a great job of executing our defensive game plan in the first half, and to Pomona’s credit they made a big push in the second half. But at the end of the day, we had one of our best defensive performances of the year and that will help us in the long run.”

Only Cal State San Bernardino, which has won five straight games, has a longer winning streak in the CCAA.

The victory also keeps the Jacks alone in fourth in the standings, a huge improvement for a team that was languishing in 10th just a couple of weeks ago.

Rob Diaz scored a game-high 16 points for Humboldt., which was his fifth straight game with double digits in scoring, while teammate Kyle Frelow added 12 rebounds and he leads the conference in rebounds with 8.5 a game.

The Humboldt women, meanwhile, also played at Pomona on Thursday and fell 69-34 to the No. 15 team in the nation.

The loss was the sixth straight for the Jacks, who dropped to 4-9 in the CCAA and 5-14 overall.

Both Humboldt teams will play at San Bernardino on Saturday, with the women tipping off at 1 p.m. and the men at 3.