9-18, 4-9
UC Riverside
7-18, 5-9
Cal Poly Overcomes Second-Half Deficit for 84-77 Overtime Win
2/25/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
RIVERSIDE – Junior guard Victor Joseph scored a career high 26 points and sophomore guard Donovan Fields added 22 Saturday evening as the Cal Poly men's basketball program rallied from an eight-point deficit with six minutes remaining in regulation versus UC Riverside before prevailing in overtime at SRC Arena, 84-77.
Senior guard Kyle Toth added 12 points while senior forward Zach Gordon grabbed a game high 11 rebounds for Cal Poly (10-18, 5-9), which trailed UC Riverside (7-19, 5-10) 69-61 with six-and-a-half minutes to play before reeling off a 13-0 run. The Highlanders, however, scored the final five points of regulation to force overtime at 74-74.
In overtime, UC Riverside notched the first point, but Toth and Joseph knocked down three-pointers on consecutive possessions to hand Cal Poly an 80-75 lead. The Highlanders trimmed their deficit to a single possession just once down the stretch.
With Saturday's victory, Cal Poly leapfrogged UC Riverside for seventh place in the Big West Conference standings (with Hawai'i ineligible for postseason play, the Mustangs would currently be the No. 6 seed for the March 9-11 Big West Tournament).
Saturday's win was the first time in 19 games this season that Cal Poly prevailed when shooting for a lower field goal percentage than its opponent. The triumph also marked the first time Cal Poly has won successive Big West road games during the same trip since defeating CSUN and Hawai'i on Feb. 28 and March 2, 2013.
Individually, Joseph's 26-point effort was the second highest single-game total by a Mustang this season following senior guard Ridge Shipley's 27-point effort versus Long Beach State (Jan. 21). His six three-pointers were also the most by a Mustang in exactly a calendar year following graduated guard Reese Morgan's effort at Cal State Fullerton last season.
Cal Poly closes the regular season with a two-game home stand that begins with a Thursday, March 2 matchup against CSUN. Tip time from Mott Athletics Center is 7 p.m.
Despite being held without a field goal for a six-minute stretch midway through the opening half and to a 31.3 (5-for-16) percent shooting performance to open Saturday's game, Cal Poly found itself trailing just 19-14 nine minutes before the break.
Cal Poly managed to close its deficit to 23-21 following a Fields jumper, but UC Riverside cobbled together a 9-2 run to push its lead to 32-23 with six minutes left in the half.
The Mustangs, however, received a three-pointer and jumper from Fields on successive possessions before Gordon knocked down two free throws to pull Cal Poly to a 32-30 deficit. Joseph then nailed a three-pointer to provide Cal Poly its first lead of the evening.
The two sides traded the lead during the ensuing three possessions before the third of Joseph's four first-half three-pointers wrested Cal Poly a 38-36 edge. The Mustangs ultimately took a 41-40 lead into halftime.
UC Riverside opened the second half by sinking five of eight field goal attempts to go up 52-46. The Highlanders led by as much as 56-48 with 12-and-a-half minutes to go before Toth knocked down a three-pointer and Shipley rolled home a layup to cut Cal Poly's gap to three points.
With Cal Poly still in the 69-61 hole, Fields knocked down three free throws before Shipley hit a layup ahead of Joseph's fifth three-pointer – a shot that deadlocked the game 69-69 with four-and-a-half minutes to go.
Senior forward Zach Gordon followed by putting back his own missed layup and Toth nailed another three-pointer to cap Cal Poly's 13-0 run.
