15-14, 10-6
UC Santa Barbara
15-13, 8-8
Mustangs Fall in Regular Season Finale at UC Santa Barbara
3/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Junior forward David Hanson registered a team-high 12 points on Saturday evening, but the Cal Poly men's basketball program closed its 2010-11 regular season schedule by suffering a 49-43 defeat versus UC Santa Barbara inside the Thunderdome.
Junior center Will Donahue added a game-high 10 rebounds for Cal Poly (15-14, 10-6), which had already solidified the No. 2 seed for the March 10-12 Big West Conference Tournament and will open postseason play on Thursday at 6 p.m. versus seventh-seeded UC Riverside (10-18, 5-10) at the Honda Center in Anaheim. The Highlanders claimed the No. 7 seed after defeating UC Irvine, 75-66, earlier on Saturday. Both UC Riverside and UC Irvine finished with identical conference records, but the Highlanders leapfrogged the Anteaters for seeding by virtue of having swept the season series.
Despite the loss, Cal Poly still matched program records for total Big West victories (10), highest finish in the Big West standings and highest Big West Tournament seed (No. 2).
UC Santa Barbara (15-13, 8-8), which claimed the No. 5 seed with Saturday's win, leapt out to an early 10-5 lead after seven minutes following consecutive lay-ins by junior forward Jaime Serna and a pair of three-pointers by junior forward James Nunnally. A three-pointer from Gaucho junior guard Orlando Johnson moments later furthered UC Santa Barbara's lead to 17-5 as Cal Poly, which had four shot attempts blocked by center Greg Somogyi during the initial eight-and-a-half minutes, started 3-for-20 from the floor.
Leading 17-7, however, the Gauchos themselves missed five-consecutive shots and were held scoreless for 10 minutes, 37 seconds as the Mustangs closed their deficit to three points 39 seconds before halftime following a three-pointer from sophomore guard Chris O'Brien.
The Mustangs thrice cut their deficit to two points to open the second half before a pair of Hanson (above) free throws with 15 minutes to play deadlocked the scoreline for the first time at 27-27. Serna, however, cemented a three-point play on the ensuing possession to start an 11-4 Gaucho run that furthered the host's lead to 38-31 with nine minutes remaining.
Cal Poly, though, held UC Santa Barbara scoreless for the ensuing seven minutes. During the drought, Cal Poly sophomore guard Drake U'u powered to the rim for a layup before slotting a pair of free throws as the Mustangs cut their deficit to 38-35 with six-and-a-half minutes to play.
The Mustangs, however, failed to draw any closer. With UC Santa Barbara still leading by the same slim scoreline and two-and-a-half minutes to play, Gaucho guard Justin Joyner sank his lone three-pointer of the night to reaffirm his team's lead. The Mustangs closed to within four points of the Gaucho lead just once the remainder of the night.
