Mustang Daily Staff Report
sports@mustangdaily.net
The Cal Poly men’s basketball team pulled off one of the greatest wins in program history last Saturday, defeating No. 11 UCLA.
But this Saturday against Saint Mary’s, it was apparent that the Mustangs left that momentum on the court at the Bruins’ New Pauley Pavilion.
Cal Poly (2-3) fell to Saint Mary’s 86-68 on Saturday night as the Gaels extended their home dominance at McKeon Pavilion by winning 19 of their last 20 games at home.
The Mustangs entered the game against the Gaels (5-2) with an average of 8.3 turnovers committed each game (leading all 345 Division I programs in the fewest turnovers). Against Saint Mary’s, the 10 Cal Poly committed turned out to be too many for the Mustangs to secure a win.
In the first eight-and-a-half minutes of the game, Cal Poly freshman guard Reese Morgan made the first of his three 3-point shots to minimize the Gaels’ lead to 17-12. But Gaels senior forward Mitchell Young increased his team’s lead to 33-19 with his seven points in the next six minutes.
Junior forward Chris Eversley tallied a career-high 25 points, but the Cal Poly defense could not hold Saint Mary’s offense, as the Mustangs allowed a 64.4 field goal percentage. Eversley also led the team in rebounds with six, and freshman forward Brian Bennett scored 10 points and had three rebounds on the night.
The Mustangs will now look onward to hosting Menlo College on Dec. 8 at 7 p.m.
Jefferson P. Nolan contributed to this article.