Hawai'i
Second-Half Mustang Men's Basketball Rally Falls Short at Hawai'i
2/8/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
HONOLULU, Hawaii – Senior guard Kyle Odister and sophomore forward David Nwaba both finished with a team-leading 12 points Saturday evening, but the Cal Poly men's basketball program, after cutting a double-digit Hawai'i lead to one point with six minutes to play, surrendered a late run and fell to the Warriors inside the Stan Sheriff Center, 69-60.
Freshman guard Ridge Shipley matched a career high with nine points for Cal Poly (8-14, 4-5), which trailed 50-40 with 11 minutes to play. That's when the Mustangs received a lay-in from sophomore forward Brian Bennett and three-pointers from junior forward Anthony Silvestri and Shipley to draw to within two points of Hawai'i's lead.
Hawai'i sophomore forward Isaac Fotu – who finished with a game-high 26 points – stemmed the tide with a layup, but another Silvestri three-pointer pulled Cal Poly to within one point of the Warrior lead at 52-51 with seven minutes to play. After Hawai'i freshman guard Aaron Valdes hit a follow-up attempt, a Bennett layup once more brought Cal Poly to within one.
However, Hawai'i (16-7, 5-4) – which topped a Joe Callero-coached Cal Poly team for the first time in six attempts, followed with an 8-0 run over two-and-a-half minutes to put the game out of reach.
Outrebounded 38-22, Cal Poly shot just 38.6 (22-for-57) percent from the floor while conceding a 48.9 (23-for-47) percent figure to the Warriors.
Cal Poly held a majority of game's early lead with the first of Odister's four three-pointers erasing an early one-point Mustang deficit. Nwaba followed with a layup, Odister drained another three and sophomore forward Joel Awich slashed through the lane for a layup to provide the Mustangs a 12-6 advantage after four-and-a-half minutes.
Hawai'i, however, limited Cal Poly to just one basket during an ensuing six-minute span, compiling an 8-2 run to deadlock the matchup at 14-14. Shipley finally broke Cal Poly's drought with a three-pointer from the top of the arc, but Hawai'i – backboned by two layups from sophomore forward Isaac Fotu – returned with a 7-0 run to go up 21-17 six minutes before the break.
A Bennett jumper and Nwaba layup resquared matters, but another Warrior spurt – this one 8-0 over two minutes – reaffirmed Hawai'i's lead. The Mustangs – held to a 34.5 (10-for29) percent field goal mark in the first half – scored just once during the final four-and-a-half minutes through an Odister three-pointer and trailed at intermission, 32-24.
Cal Poly cut its deficit to seven points five times early in the second half, but Hawai'i – which saw Fotu score eight of its first 10 points in the second half – still maintained a 44-35 lead with 14 minutes to play. At 50-40, however, the Warriors were never able to stretch their lead past 10 points.
Cal Poly continues a three-game road trip when visiting Cal State Northridge on Thursday, Feb. 13 at 7 p.m.
