As UC San Diego skipped the ball ahead of the last Cal Poly Men’s Basketball defender and Bol Dengdit slammed the ball through the rim, waves of emotion washed through Lee’s Family Forum.
For Triton fans, it was one of elation. They would move on to the next round of the Big West Championship in a hard fought 72-69 victory.
For Mustang fans, it was one of disappointment. A mourning for what the Big West Championship could have held for Cal Poly.
“I was very proud of the efforts, obviously disappointed in the outcome,” Head Coach Mike DeGeorge said. “This group has come a long way this year, and I think that was on display tonight.”
The ceiling of this Cal Poly squad was sky high. After a slow start to 2026 the team had gotten hot at the right time, winning five of their seven final games leading up to the tournament.
For the first half it looked like the Mustangs would live up to their expectations, controlling the game against UC San Diego.
A balanced attack stretched the Tritons defense thin, all but one Mustang who played in the first half collected a made field goal and six had multiple field goals. The leading scorer in the half was sophomore guard Cayden Ward, with seven.
While the Mustangs could decisively never pull away from the Tritons, they held a 35-26 advantage going into the half.
Throughout the season, Cal Poly had been known to ratchet up the intensity coming out of the halftime break, but this time it was UC San Diego who came out hot.
Hudson Mayes led the charge, scoring nine points quickly and slashing the Mustang lead down early in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Cal Poly had trouble knocking down shots. They were able to hold onto their lead with their free throw shooting, as Cal Poly would convert their free chances and UC San Diego couldn’t buy a make from the charity stripe.
It wouldn’t stay that way for long, as the Tritons clawed their way back and DeGeorge was forced to take a timeout after yet another Mayes basket extended the Triton lead.
From there the teams battled back and forth, and neither side would extend their lead past four points the rest of the way.
UC San Diego would take a huge blow offensively when Mayes was called for his fifth personal foul, regulating him to the bench with six minutes to play.
Sophomore guard Hamad Mousa had been the engine in the second half for the Mustangs, and his tip-in layup would give Cal Poly a one-point lead with 1:30 left.
It was the last lead that Cal Poly would hold.
The Tritons’ Tom Beattie hit a three to take back the lead on the next possession. With seven seconds left Mousa drove the lane again to cut the lead to one point.
UC San Diego inbounded it and avoided the intentional foul, with Dengdit ending the Mustangs season on the other end.
This stretch of two seasons has been the best two season stretch in recent memory for Cal Poly Basketball. They finished with double digit conference wins for the first time since 2012-13 this season, and made a conference tournament run to the semifinals last year.
“It’s a special group, we all get along, we all really enjoy each other,” Ward said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a team that I got along with this well. The passion that everybody brings every single day shows how much they care.”
The Mustangs are a team on the younger side as well, Mousa, Ward and Peter Bandelj are all just sophomores.
There is no guarantee that any of them will be back next season with the current NCAA climate. Whether the Mustangs lose them to the draft or to the transfer portal, any of their departures would be a massive blow to the program.