Cal Poly men’s basketball team loses at UC Irvine

Senior guard David Nwaba scored a career-high 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Cal Poly men’s basketball team during a 72-62 loss at UC Irvine on Thursday night in a Big West Conference matchup.

Nwaba recorded his third double-double and became the 23rd Mustang in program history to score 1,000 points in his career. He finished the game 8 of 12 from the field and made 9 of 12 attempts at the free-throw line.

Cal Poly dropped to 10-18 overall and 4-11 in the Big West heading into Saturday’s regular season final at UC Santa Barbara. Fellow senior Reese Morgan added 12 points, and senior forward Brian Bennett contributed nine points and six rebounds off the bench.

With the victory, the Anteaters (23-8, 12-3 Big West) secured the No. 2 seed at the Big West Conference Tournament next week in Anaheim. Cal Poly currently sits seventh in the conference standings, meaning the two teams will likely meet again next Thursday in a first-round matchup.

Junior forward Mike Best scored 19 points to lead four UC Irvine players in double figures. Junior guard Alex Young added 14 points and six assists, and junior center Mamadou Ndiaye finished with 13 points, six rebounds and four blocks.

Speedy sophomore Luke Nelson scored 12 points and handed out six assists for the Anteaters, who shot nearly 57 percent from the field (29 of 51) for the game.

Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara are scheduled to play at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Events Center Thunderdome.

This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 12:17 PM with the headline "Cal Poly men’s basketball team loses at UC Irvine."