College Roundup: Cal Poly men unable to overcome first-half deficit in road loss to UC Irvine

Reese Morgan came off the bench to tie a game-high with 17 points for the Cal Poly men’s basketball team, but UC Irvine’s Travis Souza made five of the Anteaters’ nine 3-pointers, and the Mustangs couldn’t keep up down the stretch in a 67-57 road loss on Thursday.

Morgan was 5 of 5 from the free-throw line and added five rebounds, and Joel Awich continued his strong play with 13 points and eight rebounds, but Cal Poly (10-9, 3-4 Big West) — which trailed for all but the opening minute of play — yielded a 12-0 run midway through the second half after cutting UC Irvine’s lead to 44-43.

Souza, who also scored 17 points, hit two 3s in that stretch, and Luke Nelson and Dominique Dunning also connected on triples during the decisive run for the Anteaters (12-8, 5-1).

Cal Poly couldn’t cut the lead to single digits until less than a minute remaining, and Souza iced the game from the foul line.

The Mustangs had one of their better shooting performances — 24 of 57 for 42.1 percent — but Irvine shot 46.6 percent from the floor and 9 of 18 on 3s.

The Anteaters outrebounded Cal Poly 39-28, allowing them to score six more points in the paint (32-26) and eight more second-chance points (14-6).

Maliik Love finished with nine points, but David Nwaba and Brian Bennett were both 3-of-10 shooting for six points.

Will Davis II scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds for UC Irvine, which also got four blocks from John Ryan and got points from nine of the 10 players who saw the court.

WRESTLING

CSU Bakersfield 29, Cal Poly 13

Freshman 184-pounder Nick Fiegener continued to bully the opposition but senior Dominic Kastl lost the premier matchup in the SLO Town Showdown, and the Cal Poly wrestling team fell in an outdoor dual with visiting CSU Bakersfield.

Winning for the sixth time in seven matches, Fiegener earned a major decision with a 19-10 victory over the Roadrunners’ Sean Pollock at Cal Poly’s University Union plaza.

Mustangs 141-pounder Colton Schilling pinned Timmy Box in 2:27 and Colt Shorts held on for a 9-8 decision over Spencer Hill at 157 pounds for Cal Poly’s other victories.

Kastl, a senior in his final home meet, met 13th-ranked Bryce Hammond but wrestled from behind most of the match before Hammond pulled away for a 9-4 decision.

The two had split two previous close meetings, but Hammond took down Kastl with 2:16 left in the first period in what turned out to be the highest-scoring match between them.

Kastl reversed Hammond with 20 seconds left in the period, but Kastl reversed in turn and led 4-2 going into the second period.

Kastl had an early takedown in the second, but the referee reversed that ruling, and Kastl again fell behind. Kastl would get another takedown, and Hammond escaped with a 5-4 lead to enter the third period, where he pulled away for good.

The event also featured a high school matchup between two of the state’s top-10 teams. Bakersfield defeated Clovis West 62-12.

BASEBALL

Riverside 6, Cuesta 1

Cuesta College lost its opener to Riverside on the road.

Austin Sodders pitched a complete game for Riverside, allowing an earned run and no walks with four strikeouts.

Alex Fagalde pitched seven innings for Cuesta, allowing six hits, five earned runs, three walks and had three strikeouts.

T.K. McWhertor went 3 for 4 with a double for the Cougars.

This story was originally published January 29, 2015 at 11:13 PM with the headline "College Roundup: Cal Poly men unable to overcome first-half deficit in road loss to UC Irvine."