Cal Poly opens Big West tourney with a huge upset win, ending 18-game losing streak
The Cal Poly men’s basketball team went into the Big West tournament opener as the No. 10 seed, mired in an 18-game losing streak.
The Mustangs came out with a stunning 88-68 win, running No. 7 Long Beach State out of the Dollar Loan Center Arena in Henderson, Nevada, thanks to a dominating and unlikely second half.
Down 40-35 at the break, Cal Poly (8-24, 1-18) came out of the locker room on fire, turned a five-point deficit into a 20-point victory. Over the final 20 minutes, the Mustangs put up 53 points with sharp passing and one demoralizing three after another.
Meanwhile, Long Beach State (17-16,11-9) struggled at the other end of the court, as the missed shots and lost rebounds started to pile up.
The Mustangs pushed the lead to 19 at 72-53 with 6:19 to go, only to see Long Beach switch to a full-court press that finally led to some turnovers and easy points.
But the comeback was short-lived.
After narrowing the deficit to 14, Long Beach State never got any closer.
Brantly Stevenson led the way for the Mustangs on offense, scoring 28 points over 39 minutes. Nick Fleming added 16 points, and Camren Pierce tallied 14.
“This season’s been hell. It’s been a rough season,” Stevenson said in a TV interview after the game. “We gotta keep our heads right. We gotta stay together.”
The key to the win was the Mustangs’ hot shooting in the second half.
Overall, Cal Poly shot 51% from the field, but that went from 43% in the first half to 63% in the second, including 11 of 22 from beyond the arc. The Mustangs also dominated the glass, outrebounding Long Beach State 41 to 19.
The dramatic win for a team that has struggled during the entire conference campaign had the TV broadcasters looking back to the 2014 season that saw a Chris Eversley-led Mustang team win three straight games from the No. 7 seed to secure the Big West championship and advance to the NCAA tourney.
If the Mustangs hope to repeat that feat, their next challenge will be a matchup with their longtime rivals, No. 2 UCSB on Thursday at 6 p.m.
Cal Poly dropped two close games to the Gauchos, 62-57 at home on Jan. 7 and 68-62 in Santa Barbara on Feb. 2.
Cal Poly women’s basketball falls to UC Riverside
After defeating UC Riverside on the previous Saturday night to close the regular season, the Mustangs fell to the Highlanders Tuesday 63-54.
The No. 7 seed in the tournament, the Mustangs lost to No. 10 UC Riverside in the first-round of the Big West tournament.
Despite the Mustangs shooting 39.5% from the field compared to the Highlanders 35.7%, and converting on two more three-pointers, the Mustangs never outscored UC Riverside in any of the four quarters.
The teams were tied halftime, 22-22. However, the Highlanders pulled away in the second half. In the third and fourth quarters alone, the Highlanders shot 17-22 from the free throw line and hit 11 in the final period of play.
As Cal Poly women’s basketball season comes to an end, the team tripled its win count from three to 10 in Head Coach Shanele Stires’ first season.
This story was originally published March 7, 2023 at 11:32 PM.
