brennan angelDawin Whiten came to life in the second-half again for the Mustangs, helping bring the Mustangs back from a 15-point second-half deficit, only to miss a last-second three-point attempt that would’ve given the Mustangs an upset victory.
The Mustangs received the ball after a five-second call against Pacific’s Johnny Gray for not advancing the ball while being pressured with 19.9 seconds remaining. Cal Poly coach Kevin Bromley opted to avoid using a timeout, which would allow the Tigers to set up on defense, and called Dawin’s number.
“It was a break down play, I didn’t hear the original call, so I didn’t know what we were running,” Whiten said. “I just broke to the ball, caught it and I had an okay look, thought I could make it, but I ddin’t.”
With the loss, Cal Poly falls to 3-3 in Big West play and 5-12 overall. Pacific improves to 3-2 in conference play and 13-6 overall.
The Tigers were led by a balanced attack offensively with four Pacific players scoring double digits.
For Cal Poly, Whiten finished with 19 points on six-of-18 shooting, including five-of-11 from three-point range, while teammate Derek Stockalper had a big night with 18 points.
A big achievement for the Mustangs was holding Pacific’s Christian Maraker to nine points on four-of-15 shooting. Maraker, a Swedish born player, entered the game fourth in the Big West in points-per-game with 17.6.
Cal Poly trailed 33-27 heading into halftime.
The Tigers began to pull away early in the second-half, going ahead by 11 five minutes in. Anthony Esparza hit his third three of the season to give the Tigers an 11 point lead.
Cal Poly cut the Tigers’ lead to four with 12 minutes remaining, but Pacific again went on a run, increasing their lead to 15.
However, the Mustangs weren’t done yet.
Trae Clark collected a loose ball near half-court and hit a three. On the other end of the floor, Cal Poly rebounded the ball and found Whiten two passes later for an easy lay-up.
Pacific coach Bob Thomason called a timeout to try and halt the shift in momentum with his team nursing a 56-46 lead.
The ploy didn’t work.
Whiten found the range from three-point distance on back-to-back possessions. his second came from an area on the court an NBA announcer might describe as being, “from downtown.”
The Mustangs continued their assault on the Tigers’ lead, going on a 16-0 run to take the lead 57-56 with 4:03 remaining.
Pacific’s 6’7″ Anthony Brown took a pass under the basket and missed a wide open lay-up, bringing a roar from the crowd of 2,603. Two plays later, Stockalper made one of Cal Poly’s 13 three-pointers on the night to give Cal Poly the lead.
Cal Poly didn’t hit another shot until Tyler McGinn made a three-pointer over Maraker with 1:21 remaining.
Gray dribbled the ball at mid-court for Pacific with under 30-seconds to go, trying to run time off the clock. But with 19.9 seconds remaining, Gray was whistled for a five-second violation to give Cal Poly the ball.
Whiten took a pass from Clark on the left wing, dribbled around the perimeter and took an off-balanced 20-footer to end the game.
Cal Poly returns to action Saturday, hosting Cal State Northridge at 4:05 p.m. in Mott Gym.