College Roundup: Cal Poly rallies for men's basketball win at UC Davis

The Cal Poly men’s basketball team overcame a 17-point deficit to defeat UC Davis 67-65 and avoided handing the last-place Aggies their first Big West Conference win Saturday in Davis.

Will Taylor had a game-high 18 points for the Mustangs, and Kyle Odister and David Hanson each added 12.

The Mustangs (13-9, 4-5 Big West) trailed 17-4 in the first nine minutes and 39-25 at halftime, with the Aggies scoring 10 points on eight Cal Poly turnovers.

UC Davis increased its lead to 17 points five minutes into the second half on a 3-pointer from Josh Ritchart.

But Cal Poly trimmed the deficit to three with an 11-0 run, and Chris Eversley gave the Mustangs their first lead with a 3-pointer at the 2:10 mark, putting Cal Poly in front 64-62.

On the following play, the Aggies’ Tyrell Corbin responded with a layup to tie it at 64.

But Hanson’s 3-pointer 40 seconds later would be all the Mustangs needed to seal the victory.

Despite possessing the ball with nine seconds remaining, UC Davis (1-19, 0-8) missed a pair of shots underneath the basket just before time expired.

Cal Poly finished the second half shooting 46.7 percent, including 7 of 14 on 3-pointers, while UC Davis scored only six points in the last nine minutes.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Cal Poly 87, UC Davis 65

The Mustangs defeated the Aggies at Mott Gym in their first game against UC Davis since falling in last season’s Big West Conference Tournament championship game.

Ashlee Burns led the Mustangs (8-12, 5-3) with 20 points, hitting six of 10 from 3-point range. Kristina Santiago scored 17 points, Brittany Woodard grabbed four steals, and Jonae Ervin added a career-high 10 assists.

Cal Poly pulled into a three-way tie for second with UC Davis and UC Irvine in the Big West race, one game behind Cal State Northridge (6-2).

Hannah Stephens led the Aggies (9-12, 5-3) with 17 points, and Cortney French added 16 off the bench.

Cal Poly dominated the boards, outrebounding UC Davis 43-23 behind Kayla Griffin’s game-high nine rebounds.

The Mustangs propelled themselves to a 52-25 first-half lead after hitting 58 percent of their shots. The Aggies failed to come within 22 points the rest of the way.

Cal Poly’s largest lead of the game, 79-43, came with 8:19 remaining.

Ventura 47, Cuesta 44

Kati Sheldon scored 12 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and recorded five steals but the Cougars (12-10, 4-3 Western State Conference) fell at home to the Pirates (24-1, 7-0), the state’s top-ranked team.

Aria Johnson added 13 points and nine rebounds, and Alyssa Palma scored nine for Cuesta.

Destinee LaFountain led Ventura with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

The last time the two teams played, the Pirates defeated the Cougars 73-34 on Jan. 4 in Ventura.

INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD

Hasay wins mile at Texas A&M

Oregon junior Jordan Hasay, a Mission Prep graduate, broke her own meet record in the women’s mile at the Texas A&M Mondo Challenge, easily winning the event in 4 minutes, 37.29 seconds.

Hasay, the reigning NCAA indoor champ in the mile, broke her meet record of 4:38.48 set two years ago. She just missed the NCAA Championship automatic qualifying mark of 4:37.0 in her season debut in the event. Teammate Becca Friday was second in 4:37.53. Hasay and Friday finished more than four seconds ahead of the third-place finisher.

Cal Poly’s Williams places third Mustang senior Turquoise Williams placed third in the triple jump at the University of Washington Invitational held at the Dempsey Indoor track in Seattle.

Williams posted a mark of 39 feet, 10 1⁄2 inches in her third attempt in the triple jump.

MEN’S TENNIS

Cal Poly 4, BYU 2

The Mustangs earned their first win of the season at the ITA Indoor Nationals in Malibu.

Cal Poly’s doubles duo of Jordan Bridge and Brian McPhee defeated Georgy Batrakov and Patrick Kawka 8-4, and Andre Dome and Marco Comuzzo defeated BYU’s Spencer Smith and Francis Sargeant 8-5 to give Cal Poly the doubles point.

In singles, Cal Poly had straight-set wins from Bridge and No. 22 Dome, and Sebastian Bell secured the win for the Mustangs by defeating Travis Fillmore 6-3, 6-3.