ARCATA, Calif. – The Humboldt State men's basketball team saw its three-game winning streak snapped as it dropped a 74-70 final to visiting Cal State San Marcos Thursday night in Lumberjack Arena.

The result makes the Jacks 9-16 overall on the season, 6-13 in the CCAA conference. The Cougars move to 19-6, 14-5.

"I'm extremely proud of the warrior-like effort that we had," said Lumberjack Head Coach Steve Kinder. "We were very physical in the second half, we were diving for balls that were a 50-50 chance of going out of bounds and giving up our bodies. I was proud of the efforts that we continue to have coming out of halftime."

Kameron Curl led HSU with 18 points, with Ashton Pomrehn chipping in 14 and shooting 4-for-8 from deep. Davasyia Hagger had 10 and hit the glass for six rebounds. Jack Kaub had nine points and seven boards.

The Jacks outshot the Cougars from the field 44 percent to 41, but San Marcos managed to attempt 64 field goals, nine more than HSU.

The home team jumped out to an early six-point lead on a Curl 3-pointer at 11-5. However, HSU was unable to sustain the positive momentum, as San Marcos went on an 11-1 run to take a 16-12 lead at 12:04 of the first half.

HSU stayed close for a majority of the half, but three late Josh Spiers 3-pointers in the final 3:09, one as the first half expired, gave the Cougars a 41-28 advantage at the break.

Spiers stayed hot, nailing another trey at 19:12 of the second half to give the Cougars what would proved to be their biggest lead, 44-28, before HSU started to tighten the score. The Jacks closed to within 44-38 with 14:48 left on a Justin Everett layup, and continued to rally later in the half, using a 13-3 run capped by a pair of Curl free throws to draw within 53-51 with 7:42 remaining.

HSU got within a point on a Pomrehn 3-pointer at the 4:43 mark, 60-59, but despite continuously remaining within just a few points of the Cougars, the Jacks were never able to take another lead. A Hagger jumper made it 72-70 with 1:17 left, and the Jacks had a chance to take the lead or tie on a late possession, but were unable to convert. Two Ethan Alvano free throws iced it for San Marcos with two seconds left.

"We did a nice job establishing our inside game offensively in the second half," said Kinder. "We got into rhythms where we were either able to get high-percentage shots or we were able to get to the foul line, which gave us the foundation in scoring to be able to make a charge. Credit to San Marcos for being able to counter some of our runs and hit some big 3-point shots."

Kinder was impressed at his players' reaction to the 13-point halftime deficit, after which they shot 56 percent from the field. "I really like how they became focused on every possession whether it was offensively or defensively," he said.

"We challenge our guys in the next three games to put a full 40 minutes together and not wait until the second half to turn it on," said Kinder.

The Jacks will now celebrate Senior Night on Saturday evening in Lumberjack Arena with a 7:30 tip time versus UC San Diego.

"We certainly want to give our fans their money's worth and have them come out here and watch our seniors play and watch this team, which is playing well right now," said Kinder. "San Diego is an entertaining team to watch if you're a basketball purist and they play very good team basketball, which is exactly how we're playing right now, so it should be a very good matchup."

Senior Night will honor fifth-year seniors Colin Caslick and Will Taylor along with Pomrehn and Hagger.