Nick CamachoANAHEIM – There was no massive celebration or raucous revelry after the Cal Poly men’s basketball team’s 81-56 Big West Conference Tournament semifinal win over Cal State Fullerton on Friday night in front of 4,252 fans at the Anaheim Convention Center Arena.
Instead, the Mustangs simply went through the post-game routine of high-fiving the opposition and walked off the floor.
“It doesn’t mean anything for our team to get this win without tomorrow’s win,” Cal Poly senior forward Derek Stockalper said. “We’re going to get it done. We’re gonna play well tomorrow.”
Cal Poly faces top-seeded Long Beach State (23-7, 12-2) in the title game at 8 tonight on ESPN2.
Even if the Mustangs are downplaying Friday’s victory, it still stands as a historic win.
Seeded second, Cal Poly (19-10, 9-5) is into the Big West tourney title game for the first time since 2002-03, where it lost 57-54 to Utah State. The Mustangs have won eight straight games – their longest winning streak since the 1985-86 season – and 13 of their last 15 overall.
Cal Poly also extended its school record for wins in a season since moving to the Division I level in 1994-95.
But despite all those figures, the Mustangs know their ultimate goal – reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history – is yet to be fulfilled.
“Tomorrow’s a big game,” said Cal Poly sophomore point guard Trae Clark, who scored 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting. “Tonight was the pre-game for it. We just have to look at it as just the day before a game. It’s not too much of a celebration.”
Try telling that to the Mustang Maniacs, who were loud and proud as ever, surrounded by the band and hundreds of Cal Poly faithful.
The Mustangs’ identity was in full force Friday night – depth, perimeter shooting, ball movement and team defense.
“I thought we defended,” Cal Poly head coach Kevin Bromley said. “This team offensively has been pretty good, but no one’s really mentioned us defensively.”
Indeed, the Mustangs held the Titans’ leading scorer, senior point guard and NBA prospect Bobby Brown, to 11 points on 3-for-15 shooting.
Brown, hobbled by an apparent right knee injury suffered about 12 minutes before halftime, was only 1 for 9 from 3-point range and had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2-2 in 30 minutes.
Stockalper had 18 points and nine rebounds, Clark 16 points and Chaz Thomas and Matt Hanson 14 and 10 points, respectively, for Cal Poly.
The Mustangs were only more impressive after halftime, firing 51.7 percent from the floor in the final 20 minutes.
“I don’t think it was fully fatigue,” said Cal State Fullerton senior forward Justin Burns, whose team was coming off a 100-92 double-overtime win over Pacific on Thursday night. “I think Cal Poly played a great game.”
Scott Cutley had 20 points and 10 rebounds and Burns six points and 10 boards for the Titans (20-10, 9-5), who shot only 32.3 percent for the game.
“(The Mustangs) basically came out with the attitude they were going to win,” Cutley said.
Cal State Fullerton was unable to keep up its pace after getting out to a 7-3 lead.
The Titans looked sloppy at times, committing eight turnovers in the first 11 minutes of play and finishing with 15 overall.
Clark and Thomas were crucial in matching up against Brown, who was 1 for 10 in the first half and struggled to get in a rhythm even before the knee injury.
“Trae, I thought, really had a good floor game,” Bromley said. “It started in warm-ups.”
Cal Poly outrebounded Cal State Fullerton 45-38.
“Now we’re starting to rebound the basketball,” Bromley said. “We were better on the glass. Matt was terrific. Those 50-50 plays are what win basketball games and we got after it tonight.”
The Mustangs’ bench outscored the Titans 30-9.
Clark said he did not initially notice Brown’s injury, which occurred while defending Stockalper in the key, but added he did not think it had a huge impact on the outcome of the game.
“I didn’t even notice it, to be honest,” Clark said. “I saw them start to get frustrated and point fingers at each other.”
Clark praised Brown, who had been projected earlier this season as a second-round NBA draft pick, for staying in the game after getting his knee wrapped.
“You can’t knock him,” Clark said. “He was hurt. I take my hat off to him for still playing.”
And now the Mustangs are still playing, one win away from March Madness.