Losers of six out of their last seven games, with four of the losses by five points or less, Cal Poly Men’s Basketball needed fortune to flip their way in a matchup against UC Davis on Saturday afternoon.
In yet another nail-biter, the Mustangs (7-11, 3-3 Big West) beat the Aggies (9-7, 2-3 Big West) in comeback fashion, 84-78.
Coming off a career-high 34 points against CSU Northridge, Hamad Mousa paced the Mustangs in scoring with 24 points, going 10-10 from the free-throw line. Peter Bandelj, Cayden Ward, and Jake Davis also had double-digit scoring nights.
READ MORE: “Cal Poly Men’s Basketball falls to CSU Northridge despite Mousa’s career-high 34 points”
The Mustangs played catch-up for most of the game, going down by as much as 14 in the first half. The Aggies had a lead for 35 minutes of the game, and seemed to have an answer for any Mustang run. Cal Poly faced a 10-point deficit at the half, mustering only 30 points and shooting an abysmal three-for-19 from three-point range.
On KemPom, Cal Poly ranks fourth in the nation in adjusted tempo. Coach Mike DeGeorge knew the team’s frenetic pace would eventually wear down UC Davis in the second half, and the result was 54 points on much-improved shooting splits and 21 opportunities from the free-throw line, of which they converted 19.
“[UC Davis] plays so hard … it’s hard for them to sustain their energy in that second half,” DeGeorge said.
With a young group like the Mustangs, sometimes a reset is needed after a tough half.
“We just kind of refocused, tried to get them to stay committed to the pace,” DeGeorge said. “We also cleaned up a few things defensively. This group just needs reassurance.”
Cal Poly didn’t have a lead until under four minutes to play, when a Mousa floater dropped in to put them ahead, part of a personal 7-0 run from the sophomore.
The Aggies would never reclaim the lead, sustaining a field-goal drought over the final 5:38 of play.
The J-Mo Show
Five-foot-10 junior Jackson Mosley had played a total of just over four minutes all season long, coming into Saturday’s matchup, yet he checked in less than five minutes into the game.
Mosley’s impact was felt immediately, and a tricky and-one finish engaged an otherwise stagnant crowd to that point.
Alongside good effort defensively, Mosley added a career high eight points and an energy that made it hard for DeGeorge to pull him off the floor.
Coming into the day, Mosley didn’t know that his name was going to be called, but he had been preparing all season as if it would.
“[I] just stay in the gym, like every day, trying to get extra shots up, and playing hard in practice,” Mosley said. “Just having a good attitude about anything, no matter what.”
Mosley’s effort in practice did not go unnoticed and was one of the main reasons he was given an opportunity.
“[UC Davis] doesn’t play their bigs unless we play our bigs. And so we just decided to go small,” DeGeorge said. “We’ve been wanting to give J-Mo an opportunity, because he’s been playing great in practice, and so tonight was the night, and he delivered.”
Comfortable in the Clutch
Cal Poly is no stranger to close games, especially since they’ve begun conference play. DeGeorge expects this to continue throughout the season, describing Big West games as almost 50-50. Cal Poly, which DeGeorge stated had the most impressive non-conference resumé, is in worse shape record-wise and analytically than teams that appear stronger, yet had a weaker non-conference schedule.
“What I’ve been trying to get through to our guys is that all these teams are different, but none of them are really that much better than anybody else,” DeGeorge said.
After dropping multiple games that could have gone either way, the Mustangs needed a comeback, crunch-time win to show growth from past shortcomings.
“We lost so many close games that we should have won, and we hoped that we won,” Mousa said. “I feel like every game, we just learned more and more … We just stayed focused and stayed together.”
Cal Poly will have a chance to continue building momentum in conference play when they take on the University of Hawai’i on Thursday, Jan. 15, at the Mott Athletics Center.