Lauren RabainoIt’s back to the road for the Mustangs (5-13, 2-6 Big West Conference) after losing to Cal State Northridge (9-10, 6-3), in a lopsided 79-68 nationally televised game Saturday night.
The Mustangs came into Mott Gym with two consecutive away victories, but were put away by the Matadors led by Josh Jenkins’ 18 points.
Jenkins was one of four Matadors scoring in double-figures.
Cal Poly now has four upcoming away games, including a rematch with Cal State Northridge.
“The next couple of weeks will make us or break us,” said Mustangs junior guard Lorenzo Keeler. “We got to go in there and play like we’re playing at home.”
The first half showed little promise to keep the streak going with the Mustangs only taking the lead two times, both times by a margin of one point. At the end of the first half the Matadors had a comfortable seven point lead. From there on the Matadors never looked back.
“We were trying to play catch up,” Keeler said. “The first five minutes of the second half are always key. Whoever comes out and fights for the first five minutes, that team has a good chance of winning.”
Instead the Mustangs fell behind by a game-high margin of 17 points early in the second half.
Cal Poly senior guard Chaz Thomas had a season high 24 points, including four 3-pointers that started a momentum build up in the first half, but his four were overshadowed by Jenkins’ five. The whole game was built on that premise: when the Mustangs looked to take command of the game, a Matador was there two hit a momentum crashing three pointer.
“We took to many threes. Actually it’s how we took them. We took too many quick shots,” Cal Poly head coach Kevin Bromley said. “We left a couple of free throws out there.” The Mustangs made 67 percent of their free throws.
Titus Shelton led the team in rebounds (five) and assists (four).
Cal Poly shot 36 percent from the inside and 23 percent from 3-point range, while Cal State Northridge hit 53 percent from both.
Staying positive, Bromley pointed out that he has seen improvement especially from the bench. “David Hanson is coming along and Bo Henning is giving us some solid minutes.”
Former Cal Poly guard Trae Clark was seen rooting for his team sitting the stands. Clark was once the leading scorer for the Mustangs but is no longer allowed to play after he was ruled academically ineligible last month. Since then Thomas’ performances have grabbed much attention.
“Chaz is starting to learn what life without Trae Clark is like and is starting to give us some good leadership,” Bromley said.
On the flipside Bromley said the Matadors are “starting to learn what life without (Deon) Tresvant is like.”
Tresvant was Cal State Northridge’s leading scorer, but was dismissed from the team after getting arrested in connection with a burglary along with another Matador player in early January.
Cal Poly returns to action at 7 p.m. Thursday when they visit UC Irvine.