SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs (22-8, 14-3, 1st place) @ UC Riverside Highlanders (15-13, 10-7, 3rd place tie)

Henry Harris, 2nd Assistant Coach for UC Riverside

We’ve won 4 of our last 5 games and want to finish our regular season with another “W”. In our previous game against Cal Poly we lost by over 20 points on their court. I scouted them and came up with a defensive scheme that I think can stop them. We’re a pretty strong defensive team and our guys shoot well from the field, but are pretty weak otherwise. So we have to keep the Mustangs from scoring many points.

We’re giving up too many offensive rebounds and the Mustangs are taking advantage of that. Damn! Kevin Lumpkin, our SG and top scorer picks up 2 quick fouls. The refs are really working over our guards. Both of our starters and our top sub picked up 2 fouls apiece in the first 6-1/2 minutes. But so far we’ve not given up any easy baskets and are tied at 8-8. We need to attack the boards harder…we’re giving up too many offensive rebounds to Cal Poly. The half ends with us on the short end of a 38-26 score. My impression of our first half play: good D initially but then we failed to stick close and gave us some easy baskets; too many fouls on us; we let the Mustangs control the boards; lack of pressure allowed Cal Poly to do some good ball control; good shooting from inside and mid range, but horrible shooting from outside the arc; poor offensive production by our starters but our bench played well; good defense on their big men but poor D on their perimeter players. So let’s see if we can turn things around in the 2nd half.

Lumpkin begins the half by hitting a 3 and then a 2 to get us within 7. Led by Lumpkin with only 2 down with 16:22 to go. We tie it up at 47-47 with 11:45 remaining…spirited D by us. Jones hits a 3 with 10 minutes left and we’re up 50-49. Lumpkin’s hot as a firecracker. From thereon the lead goes back and forth faster than a ball in a tennis match. With 55 seconds to go, we’re down by 1 and call a time out. Lumpkin’s tired, but we get him back onto the court. They press, but Jones gets it upcourt…and then fires a pass over the head of Lumpkin. So much for our designed play. They work the clock down and we finally have to foul. Barnes knocks down both free throws and we trail by 3 with 29 seconds to go. We try to get off a 3 but it’s blocked. Cal Poly beats us 69-65. We gave them a scare but still it’s disappointing to lose that game. We finish conference play tied for 4th place and will be the #4 seed in the conference tourney.

Kevin Lumpkin scored 23 points for us. Cal Poly’s top players: PG Scotty Lee—13 points, 4 assists; SF Eddie Erskin—10 points, 4 rebounds; C Estell Luton—9 points.

[PointGuard]

The Jamie Monroe Big West Review

BIG WEST CONFERENCE FINAL STANDINGS

Cal Paly Mustangs: 15-3, 23-8, NET: 43
UC Irvine Anteaters: 13-5, 19-10, NET: 99
Cal State Fullerton Titans: 11-7, 15-14, NET: 264
UC Riverside Highlanders: 10-8, 15-14, NET: 221
Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners: 10-8, 13-17, NET: 324
UC Davis Aggies: 9-9, 12-17, NET: 276
Long Beach State 49ers: 7-11, 10-20, NET: 314
Hawaii Rainbow Warriors: 6-12, 8-21, NET: 347
UC San Diego Tritons: 6-12, 14-15, NET: 274
Cal State Northridge Matadors: 3-15, 6-23, NET: 363

This is Cal Poly's 3rd straight season (and 4th time in the past 5 seaons) that they've finished in 1st place in the Big West.

[PointGuard]

David Williams, 2nd Assistant Coach (scouting)

We’ve had to scramble in our last 7 games. Although we lost just 1 of those, all have been very close. We need to begin dominating our opponents again, but the conference tournament tends to bring out the best in the underdogs so it'll be tough to do right now.

[PointGuard]

San Luis Obispo Tribune

Big West Tournament Results

Day 1:

#10 seed UC Northridge—66, #7 seed Long Beach State—63 [POG: SG Marlon Kennedy—18 pts, 7 reb, 2 ast]

#9 seed UC San Diego—73, #8 seed Hawaii—61 [POG: C Doylan Augustine—17 pts, 6 reb, 2 ast]

Day 2 (Quarterfinals:)

#4 seed UC Riverside—93, #5 seed Cal St. Bakersfield—62 [POG: PF Henry Danielson—16 pts, 2 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl]

#3 seed Cal St. Fullerton—84, #6 seed UC Davis—71 [POG: C JaRon Mihm—25 pts, 4 reb, 5 ast, 3 stl]

#2 seed UC Irvine—65, #10 seed Cal St. Northridge—54 [POG: C Paul Dye—15 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl]

#1 seed Cal Poly—70, #9 seed UC San Diego—53 [POG: C Steve Hastings—15 pts, 4 reb, 2 stl]

Cal Poly took care of business in the first half with strong defense. At the half they led 34-24. But the Tritons struck back in the second half and took the lead midway through the half. After trailing by 5 points, the Mustangs totally shut down UC San Diego in the final 7 minutes to win with ease. The win improved Cal Poly’s record to 24-8.

Both C Steve Hastings and PG Danny Preston scored 15 points with Hasting pulling down 4 rebounds and getting 2 steals while Preston had 7 rebounds and 2 assists. SG Jase Carroll added 9 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.

Round 3 (Semifinals)

#3 seed Cal State Fullerton—63, #2 seed UC Irvine—56 [POG: C JaRon Mihm—11 pts, 7 reb, 4 ast, 8 stl]

#4 seed UC Riverside—82, #1 seed Cal Poly—74 [POG: SG Kevin Lumpkin—17 pts, 3 ast, 2 stl, 2 blk]

“The Highlanders began the game on fire and we weren’t able to extinguish it the entire game,” said Coach Fred Aura. UC Riverside hit 65% of their FG’s. But they truly won the game at the free throw line. The Mustangs had 27 fouls assessed against them which allowed UC Riverside to outscore Cal Poly at the line 25-9. SG Jase Carroll scored 19 points and had 3 assists and 4 steals. PG Danny Preston scored 11 before fouling out and SF Eddie Erskin had 10 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. PF Calvis Barnes, who also fouled out, scored 8 points and he had 4 rebounds and 3 assists.

Round 4 (Championship)

#4 UC Riverside—79, #3 Cal State Fullerton—62 [POG: SF Larry Ellington—18 pts, 3 ast, 2 reb]

[PointGuard]

Cory McCreight, 1st Assistant Coach (Recruiting)

This week had some bad and some good. Obviously, the bad was that we didn’t win the conference tournament. But two days later we got the good news that we landed our 6th and final recruit. It’s a player to whom we’d offered a scholarship last fall. He’s from the south and wanted to play near home so I believe he kept hoping he’d sign with one of the major basketball programs in the southeast. But he finally accepted our offer. Even though they were interested, only one (Kentucky) offered a scholarship…and surprisingly we won that contest. He is C Micah Hannah who is 6’9” tall and is from Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He’s a 4-star recruit who is ranked as the 82nd top recruit this year. A lot of strengths with inside shooting and scoring, rebounding, defense, and shot blocking at the top of the list. And he has a tremendous work ethic.

A great way to end our recruiting efforts for this year. We landed four 4-star recruits, a 3-star recruit, and a 2-star recruit. I’ll provide a summary about them after our season concludes.

[PointGuard]

Rob Benchley, Athletic Director

Team Stats:

We finished the regular season with 24 wins and 9 losses and a NET Rank of 65. We were first in the Big West with a 15 and 3 conference record. We averaged 75.4 ppg (59th best) and gave up 68.3 ppg (109th best). We averaged 33.8 rpg (84th best). We were a good shooting team: 46.6% from the field (65th best) and hit 34.3% of our 3’s (130th best), and 74.0% of our FT’s (79th best).

Player Stats:

SG Jase Carroll (Fr): 25.7 mpg; 10.4 ppg; 3.0 rpg; 2.1 apg; 2.2 spg; 0.6 bpg
PG Danny Preston (Sr): 25.5 mpg; 10.7 ppg; 3.0 rpg; 3.4 apg; 1.0 spg; 0.7 bpg
PF Calvis Barnes (Sr): 22.4 mpg; 11.3 ppg; 6.1 rpg; 1.5 apg; 0.5 spg; 0.6 bpg
C Steve Hasting (Jr): 21.7 mpg; 11.4 ppg; 4.5 rpg; 1.4 apg; 0.5 spg; 0.7 bpg
PF Brandon Bailey (So): 21.4 mpg; 7.2 ppg; 4.7 rpg; 1.4 apg; 0.7 spg; 0.8 bpg
SF Eddie Erskin (Sr): 18.0 mpg; 5.1 ppg; 3.1 rpg; 1.6 apg; 0.7 spg; 0.4 bpg
SF Louis Taylor (So): 17.3 mpg; 5.8 ppg; 3.2 rpg; 0.8 apg; 0.4 spg; 0.3 bpg
C Estell Luton (Sr): 16.8 mpg; 7.2 ppg; 4.2 rpg; 1.0 apg; 0.4 spg; 0.6 bpg
PG Scotty Lee (Sr): 15.2 mpg; 6.5 ppg; 1.7 rpg; 2.8 apg; 0.7 spg; 0.0 bpg
PF DJ Morse (Fr): 9.0 mpg; 1.9 ppg; 1.0 rpg; 0.4 apg; 0.1 spg; 0.1 bpg
SG Damien Harris (Sr): 7.8 mpg; 2.6 ppg; 1.4 rpg; 0.6 apg; 0.5 spg; 0.2 bpg
SG Jon Overton (So): 6.5 mpg; 2.1 ppg; 1.2 rpg; 0.2 apg; 0.5 spg; 0.4 bpg
PF Kenyon Farrell (Fr): 3.1 mpg; 1.1 ppg; 0.4 rpg; 0.3 apg; 0.1 spg; 0.1 bpg

[PointGuard]

The Jamie Monroe Big West Review

Post-Season Tournament Seedings for Big West Teams:

NCAA

#1 seeds: Minnesota (East); Arizona (South); Virginia Commonwealth (Midwest); Florida (West)

UC Riverside is the 15th seed in the West Region and will play #2 seed Texas Tech

NIT

Cal Poly is the 4th seed in the Midwest Region and will play #5 seed St. Louis

CBI

UC Irvine is the 8th seed in the West Region and will play #1 seed Temple

[PointGuard]

The Jamie Monroe Big West Review

Tournament Results for Big West Teams

CBI Tournament

Round 1

#1 seed Temple Owls—95, #8 seed UC Irvine Anteaters—89 (OT)

NIT Tournament

Round 1

#4 seed Cal Poly Mustangs—84, #5 seed St. Louis Billikens—60. [The Mustangs got off to a great start, leading 14-3 after 5 minutes of play. But the Billikens had cut the lead to 2 points midway through the half. Cal Poly recovered and, led by Jase Carroll, the Mustangs pulled away again to lead 44-30 at the half. The Mustangs dominance continued throughout the 2nd half for what turned out to be an easy win. Calvin Barnes—14 points, 12 rebounds; Jase Carroll—13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks; Steve Hastings—12 points, 4 rebounds; J—Overton—12 points, 3 steals; Eddie Erskin—9 points, 10 rebounds. The win improved the Mustangs season record to 25-9.]

Round 2

#4 seed Cal Poly Mustangs—88, #1 seed Western Kentucky Hilltoppers—72 [With 2 starters sent to the bench early with foul trouble, the Mustangs had to grind the entire half to gain and hold a small lead. Late in the half they were able to stretch their advantage to 44-36 at the break. Cal Poly used a combination of hot shooting coupled with a stubborn defense in the 2nd half to stretch their lead to double figures. Playing the entire bench, the Mustangs moved on in the tourney 16 point knock-out victory over the Hilltoppers and now have 26 wins against 9 losses this year. Leading the scoring for Cal Poly were: Steve Hastings—14; Eddie Erskin—12; Calvis Barnes—11; Danny Preston—10; and Louis Taylor—9.

Round 3 (Quarterfinals)

#2 seed Miami (FL) Hurricanes—69, #4 seed Cal Poly Mustangs—67 [Miami got an initial lead and while the Mustangs struggled to get ahead they never could throughout the entire first half which ended with Cal Poly trailing 39-34. The Hurricanes continued to hold onto the lead until Calvis Barnes drove down the key to throw down a dunk tying the game at 60-60 with 8 minutes remaining. The final 8 minutes were downright ugly marked with a series of turnovers by both teams. With less than 30 seconds to go and the score tied, a steal of a Mustangs resulted in a breakaway layup by the Hurricanes. Cal Poly was unable to get a clear shot and a last-second highly-contested shot failed to go down sealing their defeat. “We had a nice comeback midway through the 2nd half, then had our chances but just couldn’t get the job done tonight," said Coach Aura. Steve Hastings- 16 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals; Calvis Barnes—9 points; Jase Carroll—9 points, 3 assists, 3 steals; Danny Preston—8 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists; Louis Taylor—8 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists.

NCAA Tournament

Round 1

#15 seed UC Riverside Highlanders—72, #2 seed, #9 ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders—58

Round 2

#15 seed UC Riverside Highlanders—69, #7 seed Missouri Tigers—66

Round 3 (Sweet 16)

#6 seed, #23 ranked Kansas Jayhawks—64, #15 seed UC Riverside Highlanders—40

Tournament Championship Games

CIT: Belmont—83, Saint Charles—67

CBI: Utah—73, Seton Hall—69

NIT: Nebraska—83, Miami (FL)—78

NCAA: Ohio State—97, Mississippi State—90

[PointGuard]

Rob Benchley, Athletic Director

Awards

Coach Frederick Aura—Big West Conference Coach of the Year

Due to the fact that the Mustangs played and achieved as a "TEAM" rather than one player dominating the stats and the outstanding overall depth on the roster, no Hoosier starters had the impressive ppg, rpg, or apg that made the conference prefers for selection to either the 1st or 2nd All-Conference Teams. That doesn’t diminish their abilities nor their contributions to the team this year, though.

[PointGuard]

Cory McCreight, 1st Assistant Coach (Recruiting)

We have a great crop of recruits coming to us this coming year. Our incoming recruits for next season are:

SG Brandon Muckle, 6-1, Fresno, CA—4-star, #58 ranked, 16.9 ppg, 4.7 apg, 7.5 rpg—great leader

C Lane Lynch, 6-8, Pavillion, WY—4-star, #65 ranked, top 25 at Las Vegas Revue—14.9 ppg, 2.6 apg, 6.2 rpg—hard worker

C Micah Hannah, 6-9, Pine Bluff, AR—4-star, #82 ranked—15.2 ppg, 2.3 apg, 9.8 rpg—tremendous work ethic

SG Will Cage, 6-1, Alturas, CA—4-star, #83 ranked—14.3 ppg, 3.8 apg, 2.9 rpg—hard worker

PG Gary Van Dyke, 6-1, Laveen, AZ—3-star, #179 ranked—17.5 ppg, 3.6 apg, 3.2 rpg—not many problems with injuries

C Earl Barkley, 6-9, Phoenix, AZ—2-star, #535 ranked—14.9 ppg, 3.7 apg, 7.5 rpg—top 25 at Las Vegas Revue