In front of a sold-out crowd of 3032 fans at Mott Athletics Center, Cal Poly Men’s Basketball has orchestrated a run to cut a once 14-point UC Santa Barbara lead down to a 72-70 score with 20 seconds to go.
Still down by two, the Mustangs (6-12 0-6 Big West) looked for a bucket from their leading scorer, graduate forward Owen Koonce.
Koonce scored 23 points on the night, with 22 coming in the second half. Time was ticking down, and Koonce made a deliberate, quick drive with his right hand, soaring for the layup and tying the ball game at 72-72 apiece.
The Mustangs still had to prevent a score in this final 13 seconds.
Walking the ball up the court with 13 seconds left to play is Guachos’ (11-5, 3-2 Big West) point guard, Stephan Swenson, with every intention to shoot the game’s last shot.
True freshman guard Peter Bandelj and graduate guard Mac Riniker are waiting for Swenson as he passes half-court.
Swenson steps back, launching and sinking a dagger from over 30 feet away as the buzzer sounds, breaking the hearts of the Mustangs’ home crowd and sending UC Santa Barbara home with a 75-72 victory.
With this loss, the Mustangs have now lost to the Gauchos 15 games in a row, dating back to the 2017-18 season.
On the cusp
Cal Poly is still looking for their first regular-season Big West Conference victory since Dec. 29, 2022.
The Mustangs opened the game versus UC Santa Barbara on a cold spell, shooting 0-for-7 from three-point range.
Graduate guard Issac Jessup and one of the nation’s premier shooting threats broke the cold streak, finally nailing their first three-pointer.
However, the Mustangs would finish the first half shooting 2-for-15 from three, just over 13%.
Despite the rough shooting patch, Cal Poly limited UC Santa Barbara to only 34 points, trailing by nine to finish the first half of action.
Head coach Mike DeGeorge deployed a five-in, five-out lineup strategy. He would sub in a new five-man unit every three minutes to combat this early-action offensive slump.
“The goal was if we could get through the first half without having our first group worn down, we felt that would help us going into the second half,” DeGeorge said.
Down the stretch
DeGeorge’s plan worked, and the Mustangs offense exploded for 47 second-half points, shooting a much improved 54% from the field to finish the game.
22 of those points belonged to Koonce.
Koonce is up to a team-leading 18.3 points per game this season and has now scored 20 points on back-to-back nights.
“I was riding the wave and taking what my opponents were giving me in the second half,” Koonce said. “I’m never down on myself and just knew I needed to get more aggressive.”
Bandelj also heavily contributed, scoring a career-high 18 points off the bench for Cal Poly.
Bandelj, a 6-foot-4-inch freshman from Slovenia, was getting it done from all over the court against UC Santa Barbara.
His quickness and decisiveness were displayed as he got to the rim with force. He also took advantage when the Gaucho defense didn’t play him tight, as he knocked down jumpers from range.
“Coach tells me when you’re open shoot it,” Bandelj said. “I didn’t shoot my best earlier in the season, so I’ve been in the gym shooting and getting reps in and it’s falling now.”
Cal Poly is now in the midst of a five-game losing stretch and now last in the Big West Conference at 0-6.
Though looking beyond just the record, the Mustangs statistically are playing high-level basketball.
At 81.1 points per game, Cal Poly paces the Big West and is tied for first with CSU Northridge for the highest-scoring offense.
Their defense is currently ranked last, but out of their 12 losses, six have been by either eight points or less or an overtime defeat.
“This has been a really tough stretch, we are playing way better than what this scenario indicates,” DeGeorge said. “I’m really trying to get the team to stay focused on the process, we are on the verge of doing some great things.”
DeGeorge also mentioned that depth will play a big role in the rest of the hopeful success of this Cal Poly squad.
That depth comes from Bandelj, freshman guard Cayden Ward, and freshman forward Guzman Vasilic.
“Mott magic needs to see a win,” Bandelj said. “The fans were amazing tonight and have been all season, it’s easy to play when there is so much support behind the team.”
The Mustangs’ next chance to shake their losing streak will be Thursday versus UC Davis at Mott Athletics Center at 7 p.m.
