Guard Trae Clark’s attempt at a game-tying basket was blocked in the final seconds as the Cal Poly men’s basketball team surrendered a nine-point second-half lead and fell 80-77 to Long Beach State in a hotly contested game Thursday night in Mott Gym.
Cal Poly cut a late five-point deficit to one with 22 seconds to play. The Mustangs quickly fouled on the next possession and, after the 49ers made two free throws, were given a final chance to tie with the score at 80-77 with 17 seconds to play.
No players were able to break free for an open look, however, and Clark’s off-balance 3-point attempt was deflected.
The Mustangs (11-10, 3-5 Big West) held the lead for most of the second half, led by forward Matt Hanson’s strong play in the post and forward Derek Stockalper’s hot shooting. The score was tied 73-73 with 2:17 to play, but 49ers guard Sterling Byrd answered with a 3-pointer. Guard Kevin Houston’s jump shot immediately afterward extended Long Beach State’s lead to 78-73 with less than a minute to play.
Hanson, filling in for injured center Titus Shelton (ankle sprain), led the Mustangs with 19 points, hitting 8 of 11 shots from the field, and six rebounds.
“Tonight I was fortunate,” he said. “When you work hard and your teammates are looking out for you, as long as you keep doing what you do, those opportunities are going to come. Things just happened to go my way tonight and I have to attribute that to my teammates.”
Stockalper finished with 17 points, including four 3-pointers, and five rebounds. Long Beach State guard Aaron Nixon, who kept his team in the game in the second with a hot touch from outside, finished with 26 points.
Both teams finished with nearly identical team statistics, though first-place Long Beach State (16-6, 7-2 Big West) shot a slightly better 49 percent to Cal Poly’s 46 percent from the field for the game. Despite holding a slim 35-33 edge on the boards, the 49ers secured key rebounds down the stretch, an important factor in Cal Poly’s loss, head coach Kevin Bromley said.
“There were a couple times when we needed a defensive rebound and we just didn’t come up with it,” Bromley said. “Those little things make a difference.”
The Mustangs looked like the livelier team in the first half, feeding off the energy of the 2,711 in attendance, the largest crowd at Mott Gym all season.
They went on a 15-6 run to take a 36-22 lead with 3:54 to play in the half. But, as they seemingly did all game, the 49ers quickly responded with a 12-2 to run to pull within 38-34 at halftime.
After falling behind 43-42 early in the second half, the Mustangs went on a 15-5 run to take a 57-48 lead with 12:51 to play, capped by a 3-pointer from Hanson that sent the crowd into a frenzy.
Cal Poly hosts UC Irvine in a Big West game at 4 p.m. Saturday. Six of the Mustangs’ final eight regular-season games are at home.