Cal State Fullerton spoils senior night for Cal Poly men’s basketball team

In a season filled with closes losses and seemingly repetitive heartbreak, the Cal Poly men’s basketball team refuses to roll over.

Facing last-place Cal State Fullerton during the final home game of the regular season Thursday night, the Mustangs scrapped and clawed their way back into another thrilling finish.

Senior Reese Morgan and freshman Jaylen Shead each made 3-pointers in the final 10 seconds to pull Cal Poly within one point in the closing seconds.

Senior forward Joel Awich’s hook shot in the lane rimmed out as the buzzer sounded, and the Mustangs came out on the losing end of a 78-77 Big West Conference matchup.

“There are some small things that we can do as a team to be better, but we keep putting ourselves in a position to win those types of games,” said Morgan, who scored a game-high 22 points. “We just aren’t necessarily finishing it off the way that we need to.”

How it happened:

Cal Poly (10-17, 4-10 Big West) went nearly seven minutes without a field goal before Morgan’s 3-pointer with 10 seconds to go. On the ensuing possession, Shead made a 3-pointer from the left wing, his only basket of the game and the seventh 3-pointer to his credit this season.

In the chaos following Shead’s make, Cal State Fullerton’s Malcolm Brooks was called for an offensive foul, giving the Mustangs possession with 4 seconds left in the game.

Head coach Joe Callero drew up a play for the 6-foot-7 Awich, encouraging him to take one or two dribbles before pulling up for a shot inside the key. The play worked, but the shot didn’t fall, marking a somewhat sour end to a lively senior night at Mott Athletics Center.

“I said, ‘Joel, we went to you because you can handle the make, you can handle the miss,’” Callero said. “We’ve got a team that believes in each other. Just because it doesn’t go in doesn’t mean you don’t believe in each other.”

Awich scored 10 points, grabbed four rebounds and blocked three shots in the final home game of his career. Fellow senior Brian Bennett added nine points and three rebounds in 21 minutes.

Senior guard David Nwaba scored 12 points and handed out three more assists, bring his team-leading total to an even 100 this season. The 6-4 Los Angeles native is one point shy of becoming the 24th player in Cal Poly history to score 1,000 points.

What it means:

The Titans (10-17, 3-11 Big West) snapped a five-game losing streak and swept the season series against the Mustangs.

Though Cal Poly is guaranteed a spot in the Big West Conference Tournament in two week at the Honda Center in Anaheim, they will likely be playing as one of the bottom seeds in the field.

That could mean a first-round matchup with conference-leading Hawaii or a UC Irvine team that went to the NCAA Tournament last March.

If there’s some silver lining to be taken from the close losses, perhaps it’s that no team in the Big West seems unbeatable. Of Cal Poly’s 10 conference losses, seven have been decided by six points or less.

“I told our guys, at this point it’s not about looking for one possession here and there,” Callero said. “It’s about picking up your teammate and constantly realizing what kind of guy you have next to you.”

Who stood out:

Coming off a season-high 23-point performance against CSUN last Saturday, Morgan continued his hot shooting from behind the 3-point line. After starting 0-for-3 from beyond the arc, Morgan made three of his next four attempts to close out the first half.

He finished the game 6 of 12 from beyond the arc and is shooting 44.6 percent from 3-point range this season, the third-highest mark in the Big West.

Morgan’s 70 made 3-pointers are tied for second in the conference with Cal State Fullerton’s Tre’ Coggins, who led the Titans with 18 points on Thursday.

Only UC Riverside’s Jaylen Bland (100) has made more 3-pointers this season.

“We’ve lost a lot that are like that,” Morgan said. “But we’ve got a good chance going into the next couple of games. Hopefully we can pick up a couple wins.”

Up next:

Cal Poly closes out the regular season with two games on the road next week. The Mustangs go to second-place UC Irvine for an 8:30 p.m. game Thursday that will be broadcast on ESPN3.

Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara will meet in the second edition of the Blue-Green Rivalry at 4 p.m. next Saturday at The Thunderdome Events Center.

This story was originally published February 25, 2016 at 10:57 PM with the headline "Cal State Fullerton spoils senior night for Cal Poly men’s basketball team."