BERKELEY — Cal Poly’s game against California Saturday was somewhat of a homecoming for guard Shawn Lewis. This trip home, however, was a bit more sour than sweet.
Lewis received a loud ovation during pregame warm-ups, but the former Bay Area-high school basketball standout could not help the Mustangs past the Golden Bears. Cal Poly once again held its own, but ultimately lost 51-41 to California at Hass Pavilion.
“Of course I would have liked to win this game,” Lewis said. “But, things happen and we’ll learn from it”.
The lone Cal Poly senior, Lewis, played high school ball at Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland, Calif. He helped the Dragons to a 26-7 record his senior year and fueled a California Interscholastic Federation Division III state championship game berth.
He averaged 20 points, eight rebounds and three assists a game, while earning All-CIF third team and All-Northern California second team honors. To go with that, Lewis was named both Hayward Area Athletic League Co-Player of the Year and All-East Bay Boy’s Basketball Player of the Year after.
The Oakland Tribune even named him to the 2006-07 Oakland Tribune All-Tower Team during that season.
So, the Bay Area is somewhat familiar with the high-flying Lewis.
“I had some good years at O’Dowd,” Lewis said. “I enjoyed those years, especially going to a state championship that last year.”
It was evident in the group of fans he brought to Haas Pavilion. Lewis said 30-40 people were present to cheer him on against California, and those fans let the whole stadium know who they were rooting for.
“They were pretty loud, but I wasn’t surprised at all,” Lewis said. “I know how my fans get and I know how my parents get. It wasn’t really much of an away game for us.”
When it was all said and done, California silenced those fans with hard-nosed defense.
Cal Poly shot 15.4 percent from the floor — 18.2 percent for 3-point range – in the first half. No player racked up a better field goal percentage than 25 percent and the Mustangs tallied a season-low 12 total points in the period. Players just couldn’t hit shots. Center Will Donahue was one of two other players, besides Lewis, to score in the first half.
“Cal played a lot better – everybody knows that,” Donahue said. “Towards the end we just didn’t execute our stuff. Cal executed well.”
Foul trouble may have been the cause. It seemed every other minute Cal Poly was whistled for an off-the-ball foul. In the first half, the Mustangs tallied 13 personal fouls – six of which were tallied by guards. It led to players like guard Matt Tichenal and center Ryan Pembleton racking up some extra minutes.
In turn, California flourished offensively – especially in the paint. It was the same story in a different game for the Mustangs. After struggling against big lineups against team’s like UCLA earlier on this road trip, California’s Markhuri Sanders-Frison – 6-foot-7 center– and Harper Kamp – 6-foot-8 forward — combined for 24 of the Bears’ 51 total points. Together, they also boasted 18 rebounds.
But, Donahue denied any assumption the Mustangs’ big men couldn’t step toe-to-toe with the Bears.
“Their size wasn’t the problem, they did their thing,” Donahue said. “They had great passing and great looks everywhere — inside and out.”
Regardless of California’s play, Cal Poly had multiple chances in the second half to run away with the victory.
The Mustangs knifed their way through a seven-point California lead late in the second half. Guard Chris O’Brien capped that run to tie the game at 39-39 with three minutes left in the game. But another win against a high-major program eluded the Mustangs as California went on a 12-2 run and knocked down clutch shots to close out the game
“When a game is tied with three minutes to go, we have an equal chance as our opponent to win that game,” head coach Joe Callero said. “For our program to go where we want to go, we have to play in a Pac-10 environment against good, long athletic players and make those plays down the stretch.”
Lewis led the team with 16 points. Donahue nearly boasted a double-double with eight points and a season-high 13 rebounds. As a team, the Mustangs shot 19.4 percent from the floor and 14.3 percent from the 3-point line.
It was another low scoring outing for the Mustangs, who haven’t scored more than 62 points during any game of their current five-game road trip. Those numbers need to change come conference play, Lewis said, in order for the Mustangs to grab their goal this season – a Big West Championship.
“We just have to execute down on the offensive end as the game goes down to the wire,” Lewis said. “We have to knock down our shots and we have to take every play like it’s our last, we can’t afford to give up any possessions and get bad shots off.”
But once again, Cal Poly losses another close game and even though Lewis had the performance he wanted in front of his home crowd, it isn’t just about stats anymore. At this point the Mustangs need to have their mind set on one particular thing in order to turn this current four-game losing streak around.
“It’s not about having a good game,” Callero said. “Shawn doesn’t want to have a good game, Shawn wants to have a winning game — that is where we have to get the program to be. There are no limits to improvement. We set up a big time schedule and now we improved, improved and improved and we would like to see those results on the ‘W’ column.”