With just over 19 seconds left to play and the shot clock turned off, senior guard Isaac Jessup, who had a quiet night up until this moment, popped open on the right wing, where he tied the game four minutes earlier.
The ball fumbled out of his hands for just a moment before he collected it at the top of the key. Jessup set and fired a deep three-pointer that bounced up and into the rim to tie the game at 80 apiece and send the game into overtime.
Despite the late-game heroics, Cal Poly Men’s Basketball dropped their third straight Big West contest against UC Irvine, losing 98-89 in overtime on Thursday inside Mott Athletics Center.
The Mustangs (6-9, 0-3 Big West) shot seven free throws in regulation compared to 21 by the Anteaters (12-2, 2-0 Big West).
Turnovers and fouls once again put Cal Poly in an early hole, with ten turnovers in the first half. Both graduate guards, Owen Koonce and Mac Riniker had foul trouble and had to sit out for some stretches.
Senior forward Aaron Price Jr. played extended first-half minutes off the bench as a result, and he made the most of it with 10 first-half points.
“My main objective was to come in, get the guys fired up and just try to make some plays to help get everybody involved,” Price said. “You just never know when your jersey will be called.”
Price would go on to lead all Mustangs in scoring with a career-high 16 points off the bench.
Both teams shot a similar clip from the field, but the Anteaters ranked No. 4 in the nation for free throw percentage at 81.6%, knocked down 14-of-16 from the charity stripe.
Coming out of halftime with an 11-point deficit, UC Irvine held its lead steadily throughout the first ten minutes of the second half.
Then it started to click for Cal Poly, with a 10-2 run cutting the lead to one possession.
“We needed to be more physical with our screening,” head coach Mike DeGeorge said. “Once we started doing that the offense started to flow better.”
Cal Poly kept it close, and with just over four minutes to play, Jessup found space on the right wing to tie the game.
After taking the lead with just 2:30 left in the game, Cal Poly’s offense struggled to capitalize on the momentum shift, and UC Irvine took a three-point lead on a pair of free throws late.
Jessup hit the aforementioned three-pointer to tie the game, and Anteater Myles Che’s runner back-rimmed out, and the teams headed to overtime.
“[Devin] Tillis dived for the pass and he barely missed it,” Jessup said. “Just needed a little bit of space so I was able to get it off.”
In the extra period, Riniker and Koonce fouled out, while the team shot a mere 2-for-11 from the field. UC Irvine made all 10 overtime free throws and escaped an upset.
“They just made some key plays and we had some bad turnovers,” DeGeorge said. “Overtime you get five minutes to make it happen and we didn’t.”
Graduate guard Jarred Hyder also tied a career-high in assists with seven.
The Mustangs have a short turnaround, having to fly out to Hawaii for a matchup against the Rainbow Warriors on Saturday, Jan. 4 at the Stan Sheriff Center at 9 p.m.
