Record night, defensive heroics lift Cal Poly basketball to overtime victory against Denver

Mac Riniker squared up an offensive player for the University of Denver, DeAndre Craig, on the perimeter. Craig drove right before Riniker slid and cut him off, forcing him to pick up the ball.

Craig pivoted frantically before passing the ball away but immediately got it back. He rose up for a shot, but Riniker met him at the peak of the jump to block his shot.

As the offensive player tried to heave one last attempt up, Riniker stuffed the shot and forced a shot clock violation.

The crowd in Mott Athletic Center erupted after Riniker’s two-block possession, which prompted a 33-15 Cal Poly run to tie the game at 74, capping off a 23-point comeback.

Riniker then slammed a two-handed dunk to send the game to overtime where the Mustangs won 95-94.

“Once shots started falling, our energy changed, our focus changed,” head coach Mike DeGeorge said.

In the first half, the Mustangs only made four of their 20 three-pointers, but they consistently crashed the offensive glass. They snagged 17 offensive rebounds for 24 second change points that allowed them to stay in the game.

Additionally, the shotmaking from Jarred Hyder propelled the offense.

The sixth-year college player, who’s battling an ankle injury, knocked down five 3-pointers in the second half and matched a program record of eight 3-pointers on his way to a 29-point performance, which is his career-high.

“I haven’t been on a winning team throughout my college career, so that’s the biggest thing,” Hyder said of what’s motivating him to fight through injuries in his last season. “We really just want to win, and I want to be that point guard, that leader for us to get those wins.”

Riniker contributed 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds, but his two blocks, four steals and many other defensive plays that aren’t encapsulated by a box score gave the Mustangs a second-half lift.

“The big focus this week was working on defense and rotation,” Riniker said. “We made a couple of adjustments and different coverages, which allowed me personally to roam. It was nice because we trust in all the other guys to cover in different spots.”

The team empowered Riniker with the freedom to make plays on defense, whether it’s by gambling for a steal or calling out a different defensive coverage to wreck an opposing offenses’ play.

His efforts often lead to him fouling out. On the season, he’s fouled out five times, including against Denver.

Many opponents the Mustangs have played from Stanford to Arizona State have remarked at the level of intensity Cal Poly plays with.

Against Denver, the Mustangs had a 41-31 rebounding advantage and had a 24 second-chance points to six from Denver.

A large part of the effort on the glass was freshmen guard Peter Bandelj. The Slovenian native had a career-high 11 rebounds, including four offensive rebounds. He played 30 minutes off the bench.

There were multiple skirmishes on offensive rebounding to the point where it was unclear who even secured the rebound. Five of the 17 offensive rebounds in the game were designated as team rebounds and weren’t attributed to a single person.

DeGeorge believed the team’s effort picked up in the second half.

“I really felt like we were too impacted by shots not falling,” he said. “But our communication and our execution was significantly better once we started to make that run in the second half.”

Graduate guard Owen Koonce had another 20-plus point outing.

In his last five games, he scored over 20 points four times and had two 30-point games. His shot weren’t falling in the first half, but he nailed a key 3-pointer at the start of overtime to give the Mustangs a lead.

Senior guard Issac Jessup made a return after missing the last three games. He scored 12 points and made three 3-pointers.

Cal Poly’s next game is its furthest non-league road trip of the season to Omaha on Saturday. Their next home game is Jan. 2 against UC Irvine.

This story was originally published December 18, 2024 at 11:21 AM.