With only five regular season games remaining for Cal Poly Men’s Basketball, they found themselves with their backs against the wall on Saturday, Feb. 22.
The Mustangs (11-17, 5-11 Big West) were coming off two straight losses and on the outside of the Big West postseason tournament picture. To make matters worse, the team was hosting a very good UC Riverside team (18-11, 11-6 Big West) that had handled the Mustangs easily in their previous outing by a score of 80-62.
“I didn’t say it to the team, but it was almost a must-win situation,” Head Coach Mike DeGeorge said after the game.
With timely help from the veterans and continued breakouts from two freshmen, Cal Poly was led to a thrilling 112-100 overtime victory inside Mott Athletics Center.
In the recent stretch of play for Cal Poly, a big storyline has been the emergence of Cayden Ward.
The freshman guard recorded a career-high 19 points in a win against Cal State Fullerton and followed that up with two more double-digit scoring games against CSUN and UC San Diego.
Along with Ward, fellow freshman guard Peter Bandelj has become a staple of the rotation and has also flashed moments of excellence. He came into the game fifth on the team in minutes and had scored in double digits in four of his last six games.
The first half was back and forth, with neither team pulling off a lead greater than six. Bandelj led the offense early with 14 first-half points.
However, the Mustangs found themselves in a troubling scenario shortly after the break.
Three minutes into the second half, seniors Owen Koonce and Mac Riniker both found themselves with four fouls.
With a fifth foul for either, meaning the end of their day, DeGeorge turned to his freshman guards for heavy minutes.
Bandelj recorded a career-high in minutes with 40, while Ward did the same with 32.
Riniker scored five consecutive points to give Cal Poly a two-point lead at the six-minute mark, but the momentum came to a quick halt after he picked up his fifth foul, closing out on a jump shot.
Careless turnovers missed free throws, and blown defensive assignments then led to a Riverside 10-2 run that seemed to pull the energy from Mott. The Mustangs were down 79-87 with two minutes of play remaining.
“There were some things in that kind of five minutes to three-minute mark that were like gut punch mistakes, missed free throws that really could have broken our spirit,” Degeorge said.
Then, with two minutes remaining, the Mustangs were given life.
The arrival of the freshman Bandelj and Ward has certainly been a great sign of the future for the program, but it was one of the veterans of the team, senior point guard Jarred Hyder, who stepped up in this moment.
He hit one three, and after seeing one fall, something changed. With only six points up until that moment, he then scored 11 points in the final two minutes.
“I kind of just knew that if we were going to win, I had to put my impact on the game and take it over,” Hyder said, “It was definitely a mentality of just making sure that we win it”.
A transition three from Hyder would shorten the gap to two points, and the energy carried to the defensive side. The defense forced a contested jump shot, and Hyder rose up to grab the rebound in traffic.
At the 16-second mark, Koonce would then complete the comeback for the Mustangs- drawing a foul and tying the game with two free throws. After another defensive stop sent the game to overtime, it was clear that the momentum had massively shifted.
Hyder would continue his late-game heroics, scoring eight more points in the overtime period and finishing the game with 25.
Bandelj added seven more points of his own, bringing his total to a career-high 24.
Asked about his scoring outburst, Bandelj said, “I had to step up…show them that they have to respect me too.”
The Highlanders had no match for this offensive explosion, and as the final buzzer sounded Cal Poly was on top 112-100.
“For them to have the mental and physical toughness to continue to compete at such a high level,” DeGeorge said. “Says a lot about their character.”
Despite the team’s four leaders in minutes being graduating seniors, Bandelj and Ward will certainly be major factors in determining whether or not Cal Poly can get into the Big West Tournament.
They will look to continue rolling into their final four games of the season and help the Mustangs sneak their way into a postseason birth.
“Every win builds confidence… it’s great that we got it, let’s go add to it now,” DeGeorge said.
The team now travels to take on rival UC Santa Barbara this upcoming Thursday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m. at the Thunderdome.
