14-19,10-10Big West
UC San Diego
23-10,12-8Big West
Mustangs Edged in Big West Championship Opening Round by UC San Diego, 72-69
3/11/2026 9:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball
HENDERSON, NEV. – Hamad Mousa (above) capped one of the most impressive offensive seasons in Cal Poly men’s basketball program history with a 21-point effort and fellow sophomore Cayden Ward added 13 points Wednesday evening, but the eighth-seeded Mustangs were eliminated from the Big West Championship with a 72-69 opening-round loss to No. 5 UC San Diego inside Lee’s Family Forum.
During a matchup that featured seven second-half lead changes and where neither side led by more four points for the final 16-and-a-half minutes, UC San Diego (23-10) went in front for certain at 67-65 following a three-point play from forward Bol Dengdit with 77 seconds remaining. After a missed Cal Poly layup and with the Mustangs forced to foul, Tritons guard Tom Beattie hit two free throws to help UC San Diego match its largest lead of the night.
Mousa followed with a layup to cut the gap to 69-67 with 20 seconds to go before UC San Diego forward Leo Beath knocked down just one of two free throw attempts. A Mousa floater brought the Mustangs back within one, but UC San Diego’s inbounds pass beat Cal Poly’s press as Beattie found Dengdit for a dunk to cement the 72-69 scoreline.
An All-Big West first team selection and the conference’s leading scorer at 20.4 points per game, Mousa set a new single season free throw record with his 179th conversion with seven-and-a-half minutes to play. Mousa’s 21-point night brought his season total to 652 – a Division I-era record and six shy of Stuart Thomas’s single season record set during the 1990-91 campaign.
Ward, an All-Big West honorable mention selection, missed a fourth career double-double by a single rebound. He finished the year 10th among Big West scorers at 14.5 points per game and as Cal Poly’s co-leading rebounder (alongside Mousa) with 6.3 per night.
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— Cal Poly Men’s Basketball (@calpolymbb) March 12, 2026
Hamad Mousa just broke the single season program record for free throws made with 180??#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/JHWEZ1zAMj
Guard Jackson Mosley added nine points for Cal Poly (14-19), which led by as much as 11 during the first half and 35-26 at the break. The Mustangs, however, shot a season low 18.8 (6-for-32) percent from the three-point line while UC San Diego shot 53.6 (15-for-28) percent during the second half.
Cal Poly broke an early 7-7 deadlock Thursday with a layup from Peter Bandelj before Guzman Vasilic and Ward sank back-to-back three-pointers as part of a 10-0 run.
The Mustangs stretched their first-half lead to 30-19 with three minutes to play before a 7-0 UC San Diego run cut the gap to four. Cal Poly, however, received a layup from freshman Troy Plumtree and a Mousa three-point play down the stretch to take their 35-26 lead into the break.
UC San Diego though converted five of its first eight attempts from the floor to open the second half, drawing to a 38-37 disadvantage. The Tritons closed within one once more before a jumper from Beath tied the matchup at 49-49. Free throws from guard Alex Chaikin followed before guard Hudson Mayes added a layup to complete an 8-0 Tritons run that placed UC San Diego up, 53-49, with nine minutes to play
Cayden from the logo! ??#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/n93MpvcNQc
— Cal Poly Men’s Basketball (@calpolymbb) March 12, 2026
Cal Poly Noteworthy (versus UC San Diego – Big West Championship Opening Round)
- Cal Poly set a new single season program record with a 78.7 percent free throw mark – bettering the previous figure of 78.3 percent set by the 1974-75 Mustangs.
- The Mustangs also matched last year’s squad for the second highest scoring average in program history at 82.1 points per game.
- Aside from setting a new single season free throw record (180) and finishing second all-time with 652 points, Mousa closed his sophomore campaign ranked second with 205 free throw attempts, fourth with 84 three-pointers and 226 attempts, seventh with an 87.8 percent free throw mark and eighth with 194 field goals
- Wednesday’s matchup was the first between Cal Poly and UC San Diego at the Big West Championship.
- UC San Diego advanced to face fourth-seeded CSUN in Thursday’s 6 p.m. quarterfinal.
- Cal Poly fell to 14-20 in 21 Big West Championship appearances and 10-11 in tournament-opening matchups.
Let's have another one JMO!#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/Nr3YKoVYac
— Cal Poly Men’s Basketball (@calpolymbb) March 12, 2026
