UC Irvine rallies past Cal Poly in overtime for Big West Conference victory
In what has started to become a familiar trend over the last month, the Cal Poly men’s basketball team squandered an early double-digit lead en route to another difficult loss on its home court.
This time it was visiting UC Irvine and its 7-foot-6 center Mamadou Ndiaye coming back from an 11-point first-half deficit on the way to a 78-72 overtime victory against the Mustangs inside Mott Athletics Center.
On the strength of Ndiaye’s 21 points, four rebounds and eight blocked shots, the Anteaters (18-6) improved their Big West Conference-leading record to 7-1. Meanwhile, the Mustangs (8-13) are now looking up at a 2-6 mark against Big West opponents heading into Saturday’s game against second-place Hawaii.
Of Cal Poly’s 13 losses this year, eight have been decided by six points or less.
“I told them I don’t coach just for the victories,” head coach Joe Callero said. “I coach for the funerals where you feel like crap and my job is to raise you up and have you believe that this too shall pass.”
How it happened:
Trailing 63-60 with 4.1 second left in regulation, the Anteaters had to go the length of the court and make a 3-pointer to extend the game. A long inbounds pass landed in the hands of Ndiaye near the top of the key, and he reversed the ball to the opposite wing toward a wide-open Jaron Martin.
Martin made the shot to force overtime and UC Irvine outscored the Mustangs 15-9 in the extra period. Ndiaye put the finishing touch on a dominant performance with a three-point play with 36 seconds remaining that gave the Anteaters the lead for good.
“(Ndiaye’s presence) makes us weary, I think, at times,” said senior Reese Morgan, who scored 10 points and handed out three assists. “When anybody has eight blocks, doesn’t matter if you’re 7-6 or not. It’s obviously tougher to score inside.”
With five players on the roster listed a 6-8 or taller, UC Irvine relies largely on a 2-3 zone defense. That allowed Cal Poly’s shooters to get open looks early and the Mustangs took advantage, making four of their first five attempts from behind the 3-point line.
That was part of an 18-2 run that helped Cal Poly maintain a lead throughout the first half, but UC Irvine got the last word right as the buzzer sounded.
Aaron Wright fielded an inbounds pass near half court, took one dribble and lobbed the ball toward the hoop. Junior forward Mike Best took care of the rest, finishing the play with an empathic dunk to give the Anteaters a boost going into halftime.
Who stood out:
Four Cal Poly players scored in double figures, including 11 points apiece from guards Taylor Sutlive and Ridge Shipley. Morgan and David Nwaba chipped in 10 each for the Mustangs, who shot 37.9 percent from the field and made 10 of the 30 3-pointers they attempted.
True freshman Jaylen Shead delivered one of his best performances of the season. He scored seven points, grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and had two assists before fouling out in 26 minutes.
“It was very encouraging,” Callero said. “Jaylen is going to have a great career here. He’s already having a great career.”
Up next:
The second half of the Big West schedule begins Saturday with a visit from another tall and talented team from Hawaii.
The Rainbow Warriors (16-3, 5-1 Big West) defeated Cal Poly by 13 points in Honolulu during the conference opener on Jan. 6. A loss to Long Beach State last week ended Hawaii’s eight-game winning streak, and it will look to rebound at UC Santa Barbara on Thursday night.
“We’ve had a couple of these kind of games and there’s a difference between coming back and getting blown out and coming back and losing by a couple points,” Shipley said. “But we’re still fighting every game and we have that same mindset for Saturday’s game against Hawaii.”
This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 11:18 PM with the headline "UC Irvine rallies past Cal Poly in overtime for Big West Conference victory."