Down by one and playing in their second overtime in three days, graduate guard Jarred Hyder brought the ball up the floor.
It’s a simple pistol action that Denver fails to guard. Hyder sets his feet on the Big West logo and fires the three-pointer, sending Mott Athletic Center into celebration.
Cal Poly Basketball snapped their three-game losing streak, defeating Denver 95-94 in overtime on Tuesday at Mott Athletics Center.
The Mustangs (6-7, 0-2 Big West) started in a rut offensively against the Pioneers (6-8), who held a 23-point lead in the second half.
Senior guard Isaac Jessup returned to the lineup for the first time since the win against Stanford, providing a needed shooting boost from one of the best shooters in the nation.
The first half was unkind to the Mustang offense. No player scored more than two field goals, and the team shot a combined 4-for-20 from behind the arc.
“They were going underneath some screens and we were getting good looks,” head coach Mike DeGeorge said. “It felt like we were getting frustrated that things weren’t going better.”
It felt like the Denver team plane was idling on the tarmac when the Pioneers extended their 12-point halftime lead to 23 points after the first media timeout.
“We came out in the second half flat,” Hyder said. “Coach called a timeout and just let us know we had to plug away and get stops.”
Cal Poly would mount a comeback like their games against CSU Northridge and San Jose State. Hyder had 15 second-half points, while the comeback was sealed by graduate guard Mac Riniker’s slam dunk to send the game to overtime.
“I knew it was either going to be open or I was going to kick it out to one of our shooters for a three,” Riniker said. “Their rotations broke down a little bit and I was able to go up and get a score.”
Once in overtime, graduate guard Owen Koonce came alive, scoring the first five Mustang points before Hyder’s three to take the lead. Denver could only watch as Cal Poly knocked down free throw after free throw to collect the victory.
Hyder’s 29 points is a new career high after scoring 27 points against Arizona State this season.
Koonce took a slight backseat to Hyder on the offensive end but still had a 21-point outing. Freshman guard Peter Bandelj had his first career double-digit rebounding night while adding 9 points.
Turnovers have continued to plague Cal Poly, with 23 turnovers against a Denver team that doesn’t create more than the average team. Cal Poly turns the ball over at the third-highest rate in the nation, with 18.2 turnovers per game.
Both the turnovers and the habit of creating early deficits with slow first halves need to be cleaned up in Big West play if the team is going to make a run to the tournament.
Men’s Basketball has one more non-conference game left on their schedule as they travel to take on the University of Nebraska Omaha on Saturday, Dec. 21, at 5 p.m. at Baxter Arena.