Cal Poly men’s basketball team opens Texas trip with loss
Rashawn Thomas scored nine of his 30 points in the final three minutes to help Texas A&M-Corpus Christi pull away and beat the Cal Poly men’s basketball team 80-74 on Sunday.
Thomas was 10 of 16 from the floor and made 10 of 12 free throws to match his career-best for the third time this season. Bryce Douvier added 21 points for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (8-3).
Taylor Sutlive scored 12 points to lead Cal Poly (5-6), making four of his six 3-point attempts. Brian Bennett, David Nwaba, Resse Morgan and Ridge Shipley scored 11 points apiece for the Mustangs.
The Islanders had a 10-point lead midway through the second half. Morgan and Shipley made consecutive 3-pointers to spark a 13-1 spurt and Cal Poly led 71-69 with three minutes remaining. Thomas scored nine straight points with a defensive rebound and the Islanders had a 78-74 lead with 20 seconds left. Morgan missed a 3-point attempt and Douvier made two free throws to seal it.
In the first meeting between the two programs since Jan. 9, 2001 — and just the third meeting ever — Cal Poly overcame a nine-point halftime deficit by holding the Islanders to 34.8 percent shooting during the second half. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, however, shot 85.3 percent from the free-throw line and got 48 of its 80 points from the bench.
Tribune staff contributed to this report
This story was originally published December 20, 2015 at 3:34 PM with the headline "Cal Poly men’s basketball team opens Texas trip with loss."