Jefferson P. Nolan
jnolan@mustangdaily.net
The only sound Reese Morgan heard on Thursday night in the Mott Athletics Center was the swish of the net.
Coming off the bench with 14:20 left to play in the game while the Mustangs trailed 50-37, the redshirt freshman guard proceeded to sink all four of his 3-point attempts as he led the Cal Poly men’s basketball team to a 68-62 comeback victory against UC Riverside (6-24, 3-14 Big West).
The Mustangs (16-12, 11-6 Big West) entered the matchup against the Highlanders riding a three-game winning streak, having emerged victorious in their road games against Cal State Northridge and Hawaii this past week. Cal Poly returned to what head coach Joe Callero deemed the best home court advantage in the Big West. But even with their 12-1 record at home, Callero’s biggest fear was what he called “altitude sickness.”
“Winning after winning is just as hard as winning after losing,” Callero said. “I’ve been nervous all day thinking about how we are going to respond to a successful road trip. It’s altitude sickness. Sometimes it’s hard to play when you feel that good about yourself.”
His fear proved to be legitimate as the Mustangs got off to a slow start.
The scoring went back and forth in the beginning of the game as both teams struggled to make a run. Freshman center Brian Bennett led the team in the first half of play with eight points and three rebounds. But it was the Highlanders’ junior center, Chris Patton, who sparked UC Riverside’s offense by sinking 14 points by the end of the first half while Cal Poly struggled. With the score 40-26 at the break, Callero and his team knew that they were going to have to make a few adjustments.
“(Patton) was playing really well the first half, so we were trying to get a little extra help,” Morgan said. “They were a very good backdoor-cutting team. We tried to make some adjustments about (Patton). Coach decided that we were going to go into the (man) defense to see if we could break their flow a little bit. They were rolling on offense.”
The second half of play began with Cal Poly slowly chipping away at the Highlanders’ lead. But it wasn’t until Morgan subbed in for senior guard Dylan Royer that the tables began to turn. Morgan’s first 3-pointer brought the Mustangs within 10 points and sparked a comeback.
“(Morgan) just totally changed the momentum of the game,” senior guard Drake U’u said. “He came in with his first three, and he just went on a roll from there. He’s playing with so much confidence as a freshman. He’s great to play with; he has a lot of energy and a lot of passion. His shot making tonight was huge for us.”
After Morgan and the Mustangs slowly fought back against the Highlanders, it was U’u who stepped up with a critical 3-pointer with just over two minutes on the clock.
“I just did my best Reese Morgan and Dylan Royer impression and shot the three,” U’u said. “I saw the shot clock was low, and I just saw it was going to be an open shot. I only have a few games left and I needed us to step up. It gave us a little breathing room at the end to finish strong.”
The Mustangs finished the night with Morgan sinking all four of his free throws as UC Riverside was forced to foul him and send him to the line. Junior forward Chris Eversley finished the night leading the team with 19 points and Morgan notched a total of 16 points.
With the Big West tournament approaching, Cal Poly will host Cal State Fullerton (14-16, 6-11 Big West) on Saturday night at home. And after Cal Poly fell 77-60 on road to the Titans in February, the Mustangs will look to avenge their loss and extend their winning streak to five games.
“We have to put 40 minutes together,” Callero said. “We can’t sleepwalk. (Fullerton) is really explosive offensively. Most importantly, we have to have the energy level for senior night that will match anything anybody will bring in here. That will set the tone as we play our last (regular season) game Saturday getting ready for the Big West tournament.”