10-18 (6-9)
UC Irvine
20-10 (11-3)
Mustangs Fall Late at Big West-Leading UC Irvine, 55-48
3/1/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
POSTGAME REACTION: JOE CALLERO
IRVINE, Calif. – Sophomore wing David Nwaba (right) scored a career-high 20 points and pulled down a collegiate-best 13 rebounds to finish with his first double-double as a Mustang, but the Cal Poly men's basketball program – facing a three-point deficit in the final minute – couldn't bridge the gap and dropped a 55-48 decision to Big West Conference-leading UC Irvine inside the Bren Events Center on Saturday evening.
Senior Chris Eversley added 10 points and six rebounds for Cal Poly (10-18, 6-9), which utilized a jumper from sophomore forward Brian Bennett with 46 seconds to play to claw to within 51-48 of UC Irvine (20-10, 11-3). Anteaters junior forward Will Davis II, however, finalized a three-point play on the ensuing possession and after Bennett missed a jumper that would have brought the Mustangs to within four with 10 seconds left, UC Irvine sophomore guard Aaron Wright knocked down a free throw to cement the final scoreline.
With the loss, Cal Poly slipped to sixth place in the Big West standings alongside Cal State Northridge (14-17, 6-9), which dropped a 106-105 double-overtime decision at UC Riverside earlier Saturday. Both the Mustangs and Matadors, however, trail fifth-place Cal State Fullerton (11-17, 6-8) by just a half-game in the Big West standings.
Cal Poly closes the 2013-14 regular season when hosting UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, March 8. Tip time inside the Mott Athletics Center is 7 p.m.
Despite being held to a 0-for-5 start from the floor and forced into four turnovers inside the opening five minutes, Cal Poly – through nine early points from Nwaba – edged to an early 11-9 lead.
UC Irvine, however, responded by holding Cal Poly scoreless for a six-and-a-half minute span to go up 15-11 with six minutes remaining in the first half.
Nwaba, who finished with 12 points and nine rebounds in the first half, quenched the drought with a basket and sophomore forward Zach Gordon followed with a layup, but the 15-14 gap was as close as the Mustangs came to UC Irvine late in the opening period. Nwaba hit two more free throws down the stretch and Cal Poly, despite recording its lowest first-half point total since scoring 13 in a 42-36 win at USC on Nov. 19, 2011, trailed at the break just 19-16.
The two programs traded baskets on five successive possessions to open the second half before the Anteaters stretched their slim lead to 26-20 following a free throw from sophomore guard Alex Young. Cal Poly, however, shot itself back into action as junior wing Michael Bolden sank three-pointers on consecutive possessions to draw the Mustangs to a 28-26 deficit with 16-and-a-half minutes to play.
An Eversley jumper at the 12-minute mark allowed Cal Poly to deadlock the scoreline at 34-34 before the junior found Nwaba two-and-a-half minutes later in the low post with the resulting layup placing the Mustangs in front 37-36.
Bennett provided Cal Poly its largest lead of the night on the next possession with a layup, but Young countered with a three-pointer to reknot the game at 39-39 with eight minutes to play.
Through back-to-back layups from sophomore guard Dominique Dunning, UC Irvine eventually forged a 44-39 advantage. Fouled on the next possession attempting a three-pointer, Mustang sophomore guard Reese Morgan knocked down all three free throws with Cal Poly's 44-42 gap the closet the Mustangs would draw down the stretch.
Bennett added eight points for Cal Poly.
