Stockton, Calif. - Eleven different Tigers scored as the No. 4 Pacific men's water polo team posted a 15-8 win over No. 14 Bucknell Friday afternoon at Chris Kjeldsen Pool, Devon Thumwood turned in his second-straight hat trick while Mitchell Youhanna tallied for the second-straight game.
Pacific has won 55 consecutive games against non-conference opponents and 24 in a row over teams from the East Coast. The Tigers improve to 18-2 on the season
Aleksandar Petrovic and Ben Stevenson each scored twice, while the Tigers also received goals from Derek Clappis, Krisztian Laczkovics, Alex Obert, Tim Reeves, Ikko Saito, J.T. Sarmento and Michael Woodbury. Matt McKaig added two assists and Kale Ai added a helper as 13 Tigers registered points.
The Tigers jumped out to a 6-1 lead and never looked back, as Obert scored 21 seconds in, and Laczkovics and Petrovic provided a 3-0 margin. After Bucknell's Ratimir Babic put the Bison on the board, Saito connected on a feed from McKaig for a power-play goal. McKaig fed Reeves and Ai set up Thumwood's first for a 6-1 advantage. Stevenson's first goal rounded out a 7-2 first quarter.
In the second Saito fed Thumwood and Woodbury on back-to-back possessions for a pair of goals and a 9-2 Pacific lead. Marko Djordjevic scored his second of the game for the Bison, before Petrovic and Stevenson each added their second goals of the game. Bucknell closed the first half scoring with a goal from R.J. Moore as the Tigers led 11-4 at the break.
In the third, Sarmento finished inside before Djordjevic answered for Bucknell. Stefan Aleksic closed the gap to 12-6 before Stevenson found Thumwood, who buried it for the hat trick.
Pacific closed the third with goals from Youhanna and Clappis for a 15-6 lead and then bunkered down on defense for the final eight minutes.
In goal, Brady Moore recorded five first-half saves, while Zach Paxton posted three in the second half.
The Tigers will play host to No. 2 USC on Sunday at noon.