The Cal Poly men’s basketball team ended its two-game road trip with a 83-65 loss to CSUN inside The Matadome Saturday night. Senior guard Marcellus Garrick scored a team-high 12 points. Sophomore wing Mark Crowe secured a career-high 10 rebounds. Junior guard Job Alexander added 11 points, for his third-straight game with double-digit points.
The Mustangs (5-15, 1-6 Big West) trailed CSUN (10-13, 4-3) from the tip-off. Cal Poly never held the lead the entire game. Alexander’s layup was the only basket for Cal Poly until Crowe’s three-pointer with 17:00 left in the first half. Garrick’s jump shot brought the score to 18-14 with 12 minutes left in the half, narrowing the gap early on. CSUN responded with a 14-2 run, taking a dominant 32-16 lead over Cal Poly with just 8:00 until halftime.
Senior point guard Donovan Fields made a jump shot with 2:00 remaining in the half to help bring the Matador’s lead to 41-33. However, CSUN ended up leading 45-33 at halftime.
After the first half, the Mustangs were leading the game in rebounds with 23 over the Matadors’ 17.
Fields came out of the break by scoring seven of the first nine points for the Mustangs, shortening the gap to 49-42 with 16 minutes left in the game. CSUN came back with a few field goals bringing the lead back up to double digits with 14:00 left. Fields assisted Garricks’s three-pointer with 8:00 remaining to up their score to bring the Mustangs within 10 points again. The Matadors continued to hold steady, marking its largest lead at 21 points with 3:31 left in the game.
CSUN ultimately took the 83-65 win, marking Cal Poly’s sixth loss in seven games. The Mustangs will host UC Davis on Thursday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. and Long Beach State on Saturday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. inside Mott Athletics Center.