Cal Poly Men’s Basketball held a 17-5 lead six minutes into their matchup against Cal, but the Golden Bears would take the lead before the half and extend that lead coming out of the break, winning 91-73 on Thursday at Haas Pavilion.
The Mustangs (0-2) were coming off of an impressive performance against the University of San Francisco two days earlier and showed early signs of improvement against the Golden Bears (2-0).
It was a homecoming to forget for graduate student point guard Jarred Hyder, who received his degree from Cal before transferring to Cal Poly. Hyder finished the night with just eight points on two-for-10 shooting.
Leading scorer senior guard Isaac Jessup had 20 points but fouled out with just over six minutes to play. Graduate guard Mac Riniker also fouled out, while senior forward Ethan Menzies picked up four fouls in the first half.
Cal Poly shot 38 percent from three, a respectable mark, but they also shot 38 percent from the field.
After the first couple of minutes, Cal adjusted and ran shooters off the three-point line, forcing them to attack the paint. On layups at the rim, Cal Poly shot 10-for-24.
After a close first half that saw Cal with just a four-point lead, the Golden Bears scored 52 points in the second half, with Cal Poly keeping roughly the same output.
The Golden Bears had 49 points off the bench, including 13 from Rytis Petraitis.
Turnovers once again plagued Cal Poly. After having 19 against San Francisco, they had 18 against Cal.
The lack of created turnovers also hurt the team, with just four steals compared to 12 on Tuesday.
Cal Poly returns home to face the Menlo College Oaks on Sunday, Nov. 10, at 6 p.m. at Mott Athletics Center.
