It was a tale of two halves for Cal Poly men’s basketball as the Mustangs squandered a 7 point lead at the break to drop a 78-69 decision to conference-leader Long Beach State in Mott Gym on Thursday night.
Despite shooting a season-high 76 percent from the floor through the opening half, the Mustangs (11-8, 2-4 Big West) fell victim to a balanced 49er offensive attack that saw reigning conference player of the year Casper Ware score a game-high 30 points. His 30 tallies were the most points Cal Poly defense has allowed a single player to net this season.
Despite Cal Poly’s efforts to rotate in several different defenders on Ware, The Mustangs couldn’t contain the 5-foot-10 dynamo for a full 40 minutes, senior guard Amaurys Fermin said.
“My hat’s off to Ware,” Fermin said. “He had a good game; he was shooting lights out. … He went on a streak and just kept shooting well, he kept getting baskets, and we weren’t executing on our side. By the time we made a move, we were already down in the hole.”
But it was the Mustangs that couldn’t be stopped in the first half, as the team hit 16 of their first 21 shots from the floor including five-of-seven from beyond the arc. The Mustangs used an unconventional lineup by starting sophomore guard Maliik Love, in place of junior Drake U’u, and rotating in senior guard Matt Titchenal and sophomore Jamal Johnson to jump-start the offense.
Cal Poly got on the score sheet first with a long-range 3-pointer from Fermin on the game’s opening possession. The Mustangs would continue to enjoy success from the field throughout the half taking a 12 point lead on another Fermin 3-pointer with 6:45 left in the period. Cal Poly entered the break with a 39-32 halftime advantage.
“We knew we would drop,” head coach Joe Callero said. “We knew we couldn’t sustain that offense. What we couldn’t do was to allow them to get on fire.”
But Long Beach State (13-6, 6-0 Big West) did catch fire. The 49ers responded to Cal Poly’s high percentage shooting by knocking down 71 percent of their floor shots in the second half. The 49ers also went 8-for-11 from 3-point land — a Cal Poly opponent high for 3-point field goal percentage this season.
Complementing Long Beach State’s hot shooting in the second half the Mustangs turned the ball over five more times than the 49ers did in the contest, something Callero said is unacceptable against a top-flight opponent.
“I was most disappointed with our 15 turnovers,” he said. “You just can’t win games with 15 turnovers. We have to be able to take care of the ball. … The best thing about this game is that the only way we can get better is by playing them a couple times so you get used to their length and their quickness and how to counter them.”
The 49ers used added pressure on the Mustangs in the back court with back-to-back 3-pointers by Larry Anderson and Ware. This 12-0 run resulted in a 48-45 lead in Long Beach State’s favor with 13:46 remaining. Sophomore forward Chris Eversley would knot the score at 48 with a 3-pointer, but Ware’s ensuing three-point play would mark the final time the Mustangs saw the lead.
They would get no closer than 7 points the rest of the game following a 17-3 spurt by Long Beach State that would sink Cal Poly and leave Mott Gym silenced.
Senior forward Will Taylor said the 49ers’ team chemistry and experience for the team’s second loss against Long Beach State this season — Cal Poly’s first was a 55-50 defeat at Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, Calif.
“I hate losing, man; I’m pissed off,” Taylor said. “It’s a tough loss to lose to Long Beach State twice, but they’re a good team. They’ve been playing together for about 200 games now; they know each other and run plays without even thinking about it. They’re a good team, a strong team, and they’re 6-0 (in conference) for a reason.”
Indeed Long Beach State has a deep team as it didn’t lose a single starter to graduation last year. The team’s experience helped them convincingly win the regular season conference title a year ago. The 49ers on their way to making it two years in a row as they’ve started the conference portion of their schedule 6-0.
“That’s a very good team,” Callero said. “They ran away with the conference last year, and it looks like they’re on their way to running away from the conference this year. So, hats off to them, they’re a better team than us right now.”
Cal Poly out-rebounded the 49ers on the night 30-22, but Long Beach State’s 59 percent shooting from the field — also a Cal Poly opponent high for the season — would give the Mustangs its sixth consecutive loss to the 49ers.
Cal Poly have the chance to to stop a potential two-game slide by hosting Cal State Northridge in Mott Gym on Saturday night at 5 p.m.
Ed Zuchelli/CPTV