The Mustangs suffered their sixth-straight loss after falling short defensively in an 80-63 Big West Conference men’s basketball game against UC Irvine Saturday night at Mott Gym.
Cal Poly (3-11, 0-4 Big West Conference) led early on, but the score quickly changed in a back and forth first half that included three ties and three lead changes. The teams battled to a 36-32 Anteater advantage at halftime.
Cal Poly junior guard Lorenzo Keeler led the Mustangs with 20 points, hitting four 3-point shots, to help the Mustangs stay in the game early in the second half.
“I felt good on the court on the offensive end. I shot like I was taking practice shots, so everything was good as far as offensive-wise,” said Keeler. “I think we competed down here on offense, but when we got down there on defense, we kind of let up.
“I think we need to relax, rebound the ball and everybody needs to play better defense in order for us to win,” Keeler added.
UC Irvine dominated the court in the second half shooting 60 percent from the field and a blistering 83.3 percent from beyond the arc.
Cal Poly could not compete with Irvine’s shooting, hitting just 35.4 percent of their shots for the game.
UC Irvine junior guard Michael Hunter led the Anteaters with a game-high 20 points and eight assists, helping them to improve to 4-11 overall and 2-1 in the Big West Conference.
Senior center Kevin Bland added 11 points, seven assists, and showed his outside range in hitting the first 3-point shot of the game. Freshman forward Eric Wise contributed 16 points and seven rebounds for the Anteaters.
Mustangs sophomore forward Wes Dipprey had a team-high eight rebounds.
Coming off a near triple-double against Cal State Fullerton on Thursday, senior guard Chaz Thomas added 14 points and three assists for Cal Poly while sophomore guard Shawn Lewis had 10 points.
Cal Poly head coach Kevin Bromley said that his team must work on their defensive effort and rebounding before they take the court next week.
“I thought the biggest problem in the game was when we went into a stretch where we couldn’t get them stopped,” Bromley said. “We couldn’t defend, they had too much momentum and we couldn’t get them stopped.”
Cal Poly hosts the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (7-9, 1-3) this Saturday at 7 p.m. at Mott Gym.