(4-7)
Pittsburgh
(11-1)
Mustang Men's Basketball Falls at Pittsburgh, 73-56
12/21/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
POSTGAME REACTION: JOE CALLERO
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Senior forward Chris Eversley scored a team-leading 16 points and senior guard Kyle Odister (right) added 13, but the Cal Poly men's basketball program – after trailing Pittsburgh by five at halftime – was outdistanced in the second half and fell to the Panthers inside the Petersen Events Center on Saturday afternoon, 73-56.
Sophomore forward David Nwaba added 10 points for Cal Poly (4-7), which trailed 37-34 with 14-and-a-half minutes to play before Pitt (11-1) dropped a 16-5 run to claim an unassailable double-digit lead. Cal Poly, playing the program's first game in the state of Pennsylvania and just the third all-time contest against an Atlantic Coast Conference program, also received a game-high six rebounds and three blocks from sophomore forward Joel Awich.
Pitt (11-1), which shot 59.3 (16-for-27) percent from the floor during the second half and sank all 12 free throw attempts, enjoyed a 30-point performance from senior forward Lamar Patterson.
Cal Poly continues its four-game road trip when visiting Stanford on Sunday, Dec. 29. Tip time inside Maples Pavilion is set for 4 p.m. with the matchup televised nationally on the Pac-12 Network.
Despite being forced into six turnovers inside the opening eight minutes and held scoreless for the first five, Cal Poly was able to erase an early deficit through two Nwaba layups. The Mustangs, however, quickly found themselves trailing 20-8 nine minutes before the break after Patterson hit two three-pointers and completed a three-point play on successive possessions before sophomore forward Durand Johnson capped the run with a three-pointer of his own.
Cal Poly, however, came up with its own long-range efforts. After Awich hit a turnaround jumper to cut the Pitt lead to 24-13, freshman forward Taylor Sutlive and Eversley connected from the arc on back-to-back possessions to bring the Mustangs to within five points of the Panthers five minutes before the half.
Eversley then followed with a layup and Cal Poly – which held Pitt to an 8.3 (1-for-12) percent field goal mark during the final six minutes of the first half – cut its deficit to three once more before ultimately trailing at halftime, 28-23.
After twice going down by eight points early in the second half, the Mustangs sprang from their second deficit with a 6-2 run to claw to within 37-34 of Pitt's advantage. The Panthers, however, swiftly counter-punched with an 8-0, 69-second run to re-forge a double-digit lead.
An Eversley layup, followed by Odister's third and final three-pointer of the night brought the Mustang chasm back to 47-39 with 12 minutes to play, but Pitt – which shot 70 (14-for-20) percent to open the second half – received a dunk from senior forward Talib Zanna and Patterson jumpers on successive possessions to put the game out of reach.
Freshman guard Ridge Shipley recorded a game-high five assists for the Mustangs.
