Cal Poly Men’s Basketball lost their second conference game Saturday against UC Davis 71-46.
The Mustangs fall to a 4-10 overall record and are 0-2 in conference, while UC Davis picks up their second conference win after overcoming UC Santa Barbara in their previous game.
The Mustangs have not defeated the Aggies in Davis since Jan. 28, 2012, and only beat them once in the last 14 matchups.
Graduate guard Jarred Hyder led the Mustangs in points with 13 points, while senior guard Kobe Sanders kept his double-digit scoring streak alive with 10 points. Sanders has scored 10 points or more in every game this season.
Senior guard for UC Davis Elijah Pepper scored 25 for UC Davis. Peppers scored 17 of Davis’s 33 points in the first half.
Despite being down 15-4 early on, the Mustangs chopped the lead down to 21-19 with 6 minutes left in the first. At halftime, Davis led 33-25.
Cal Poly’s second-half struggles turned a competitive game into a blowout. The offense seemed to disappear as the Mustangs shot just 24% from the field in the second half and could not keep up with the Aggies.
Eleven of Hyder’s 13 points were in the first half, and he shot 0-10 in the second.
The offense also shot just 54.5% from the free throw line and were 6-14 in the second half.
As the Mustangs got more desperate for points, they rushed to put up more shots to no avail. They had a difficult time keeping possession of the ball and setting a quick pace to string points together.
With ten minutes remaining in the game, Davis led 49-40 but went on a 15-3 scoring run to hold a 64-43 lead with four minutes left.
With two home games next week, Cal Poly faces Long Beach State on Thursday, Jan. 4, at 7 p.m. and UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Jan. 6.