UC Davis
Second-Half Rally Lifts UC Davis Over Cal Poly, 62-58
1/30/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- A six-point Cal Poly lead with 13 minutes to play was wiped out by UC Davis as the Aggies hit 10 shots from beyond the arc and beat the Mustangs 62-58 in a Big West Conference men's basketball game Thursday night before 2,242 in the Mott Athletics Center.
Cal Poly made more field goals than UC Davis, 24 to 23, but the Mustangs connected on just three of 10 three-pointers while the visiting Aggies sank 10 of 22 from long range for the win.
Cal Poly falls to 8-12 for the season and 4-3 in Big West games with the loss while UC Davis improved to 7-14 and 2-4.
Cal Poly took control in the first half as a jumper by sophomore wing David Nwaba snapped an 8-8 tie with 14:07 to play and the Mustangs led by as many as nine points before settling for a 28-21 cushion at the break.
Cal Poly still led 41-35 with 13:14 to play after a layup by junior guard Maliik Love before UC Davis mounted its rally. The Aggies, who made 14 of 22 floor shots (64 percent) in the second half, scored the next seven points of the game for a 42-41 lead. Senior center Ryan Sypkens capped the run with a jumper with 10:10 to play.
The lead changed hands seven times in the next seven minutes before Sypkens and junior guard Corey Hawkins hit back-to-back three-pointers for a 59-54 Aggie lead with 58 seconds to go.
Trailing by three points with 28 seconds to go after two Aggie free throws by Hawkins, Cal Poly missed a pair of three-pointers that would have tied the game and UC Davis junior forward Iggy Nujic made one free throw with six seconds left to ice the win.
Four Aggies scored in double figures, paced by Hawkins with 16 points. Sypkens added 14 points off the bench while junior guard Avery Johnson tallied 11 and freshman forward Georgi Funtarov 10.
Senior forward Chris Eversley (pictured above) scored 17 points for Cal Poly and Nwaba added 14. Eversley became the 19th Mustang to surpass the 1,000-point mark in career scoring with two minutes remaining in the first half, hitting a jumper to give Cal Poly a 28-19 lead. Both Eversley and Nwaba have scored in double digits 13 times this season.
UC Davis earned its first win at Cal Poly since 2009. The Mustangs had won 16 consecutive Big West games at home prior to a 63-62 loss to Long Beach State two weeks ago and now have lost back-to-back conference home games for the first time since falling to UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 15 and 27, 2011, respectively.
The Mustangs outrebounded the Aggies 30-25, led by sophomore forward Brian Bennett with seven and Eversley with six. Funtarov grabbed six boards for UC Davis.
Both teams had 12 turnovers. Senior guard Jamal Johnson contributed four assists for Cal Poly and Eversley had three steals.
With the loss, Cal Poly slipped into fourth place in the Big West. UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine and the winner of the late game between Long Beach State and Hawaii share first place with 4-2 marks. The Anteaters fell 80-60 at UC Santa Barbara on Thursday night.
Cal Poly hosts UC Irvine on Saturday at 8 p.m. in a game to be televised by ESPNU.
