Vallejo, Calif. | A rocky start to the season for the Warner Pacific University Men's Basketball team (0-1), as they fell to the Menlo College Oaks (1-0) in the first round of the Frank Dye Classic by a final of 78-87.

After facing a 13-point deficit at the half, the Knights were able to push back and make this one competitive in the final moments of play, inching to within 7 points with less than two minutes to go, but ultimately were unable to bounce back out of the first-half hole they dug themselves in. Warner Pacific shot just 28% from the 3-point line, forcing the Knights to have to find other opportunities to score against a Menlo team discovering their team cohesion for the first time this year as well.

Leading the Knights in their season debut was senior guard Isaac Etter, who scored 16 points on 41% shooting from the field and hauled in 4 rebounds along the way. Senior center Christian Hodge followed with 13 points of his own, while managing to come away with 6 boards.

The Oaks shot a game-high 49% field goal percentage and 37% from beyond the arc, while also scoring 11 points off Knights' turnovers. Oaks' point guard N'Jai LeBlanc was scoring early and often for the Menlo, dropping a game-high 22 points in tonight's contest. Forward Corey Le'aupepe complimented LeBlanc with 19 points to keep the Knights on their toes.

The Men's Basketball team is back in action tomorrow night, as they will play the Frank Dye Classic hosts California State University-Maritime at 7:30pm PST.