UC Santa Barbara
Mustangs Fall at UC Santa Barbara; No. 7 Seed for Big West Tournament
3/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BIG WEST TOURNAMENT BRACKET (pdf)
SANTA BARBARA – Junior forward Brian Bennett scored a team-leading 14 points, but the Cal Poly men's basketball program – after overcoming a 10-point halftime deficit on Saturday afternoon at Blue-Green rival UC Santa Barbara – closed the 2014-15 regular season with a 64-56 loss to the Gauchos inside The Thunderdome.
Junior wing David Nwaba added 10 points for Cal Poly (13-15, 6-10), which trailed 30-20 at halftime and rallied to grab a 45-43 lead with 10-and-a-half minutes to play before hitting just three field goals the remainder of the day. Cal Poly, which outrebounded UC Santa Barbara 32-31 despite a 19-board effort from Gauchos senior center Alan Williams, was limited to a 37.9 (22-for-58) percent mark from the floor.
The Mustangs, locked into the No. 7 seed for March 12-14 Big West Conference Tournament entering play Saturday, will open defense of their 2014 conference tournament title on Thursday, March 12 at 8:30 p.m. against UC Santa Barbara (18-12, 11-5). The matchup will be televised on Fox PRIME TICKET from the Honda Center in Anaheim. UC Santa Barbara claimed the No. 2 seed after UC Irvine (18-12, 11-5) fell at regular season champion UC Davis (24-5, 14-2) Saturday evening and lost a tiebreaker versus the Gauchos.
Last season, Cal Poly became the first program in the 39-year history of the Big West Tournament to win the competition as a No. 7 seed. During the program's first NCAA Division I Tournament appearance in 2014, Cal Poly ousted fellow No. 16 seed Texas Southern in the First Four before falling to top-seeded Wichita State.
The Mustangs scored Saturday's first basket with Nwaba hitting from the left corner, but the jumper marked Cal Poly's only lead for the next 29 minutes. Held to a 23.5 (4-for-17) percent start from the floor, Cal Poly nevertheless kept UC Santa Barbara to just a pair of Williams field goals during a six-minute span midway through the first half and trailed 14-8 with seven-and-a-half minutes to go before the break.
However, UC Santa Barbara – which saw Williams grab the team's first eight rebounds – received a pair of three-pointers from junior guard T.J. Taylor during a two-minute stretch to build its lead to 27-16 with three-and-a-half minutes to go.
Cal Poly itself received a pair of free throws from senior guard Maliik Love and a turnaround jumper by junior forward Joel Awich down the stretch, but still trailed at the half, 30-20.
Kept to a 30.8 (8-for-26) percent field goal mark in the first half, Cal Poly opened the second by hitting four of its first six attempts and a three-pointer by senior wing Michael Bolden cut UC Santa Barbara's lead to 34-30 with 16-and-a-half minutes to play.
Williams responded with a pair of free throws to place the Gauchos up by six, but Cal Poly answered with a four-point play from junior guard Reese Morgan and an Awich jumper to square the matchup at 36-36 with 13 minutes to go.
Another Bolden three-pointer – his third of the day – at the 11-minute mark tied the game at 43-43 and the Mustangs finally overtook the Gauchos 30 seconds later with a Love layup.
A 7-0 run by the Gauchos backboned by a three-pointer from sophomore guard Childress placed UC Santa Barbara back in front 50-45 as Cal Poly was held to just a single field goal during a seven-minute stretch. A pair of Love free throws did bring Cal Poly's deficit to 50-49 with six minutes to play, but that was as close as the Mustangs reached the remainder of the day.
