9-14,5-6Big West
UC Riverside
8-15,3-8Big West
Mustangs Sweep Road Trip with 94-87 Saturday Win at UC Riverside
1/31/2026 8:09:00 PM | Men's Basketball
RIVERSIDE – Guard Hamad Mousa finished with a team leading 26 points and fellow freshman Austin Goode enjoyed a career high 16 points Saturday evening as the Cal Poly men’s basketball program completed a sweep of its two-game road trip with a 94-87 win at UC Riverside.
Sophomore guard Peter Bandelj added 17 points for Cal Poly (9-14, 5-6), which led by nine with 100 seconds to play before three UC Riverside free throws and a three-pointer from Highlanders guard Tyler Jones cut the advantage to three in the final minute.
A Mousa layup (right) and free throw from junior guard Jake Davis, however, brought Cal Poly’s lead back to two possessions and Bandelj sank four successive free throws down the stretch to cement Saturday’s final score.
Freshman Jess Esso Essis also scored a career best 13 for Cal Poly, which shot 53.1 (34-for-64) percent from the floor.
With Saturday’s victory, Cal Poly – which opened its two-game road trip with a 104-79 Thursday victory at Cal State Bakersfield – climbed to sixth place in the Big West standings alongside Cal State Fullerton.
Sealing the deal ??#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/51PzmMA4ie
— Cal Poly Men’s Basketball (@calpolymbb) February 1, 2026
Holding UC Riverside to a 1-for-7 shooting start Saturday, Cal Poly carved out a pair of early five-point leads before back-to-back three-pointers from Goode – from either corner of the arc – and a layup by freshman forward Troy Plumtree handed the Mustangs a 24-16 advantage with 11-and-a-half remaining in the first half.
UC Riverside, which received 21 first-half points from guard Andrew Henderson, responded with a 10-3 run to go in front before eventually extending the lead as far as 43-37 with four minutes remaining. However, Cal Poly – which shot 56.7 (17-for-30) percent from the floor in the first half – led 46-44 at the break after Mousa sank a pair of layups inside the final 90 seconds.
The two sides traded the lead four times early in the second half before an Esso Essis layup handed Cal Poly the lead for good at 57-56 with 14-and-a-half minutes to play.
Cal Poly Noteworthy (at UC Riverside)
- Up Next: Cal Poly returns to Mott Athletics Center to host CSUN on Thursday, Feb. 5. Tip time is 7 p.m.
- One more double-digit scoring game from Hamad Mousa – his 22nd in 22 appearances – and the Qatar native retained the Big West scoring lead at 20.6 points per game.
- Shooting 81.0 percent from the free throw line Saturday, Cal Poly – coupled with a program record 20-for-20 effort Thursday at Cal State Bakersfield – took over the Big West free throw lead at 76.5 percent.
- Cal Poly’s 53.1 percent field goal mark was its third highest shooting figure of the season.
Playing with a vision. #RideHigh ?? pic.twitter.com/iCqI36ObdE
— Cal Poly Men’s Basketball (@calpolymbb) February 1, 2026
