SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

[PointGuard]

Janeka Aura

Malik suffered an injury to his back. He says he’s still going to be able to play, but from what Fred was able to learn, he’s suffering back spasms and that may keep him from playing for a couple weeks and will at least severely limit his playing time. The Hoyas are now 8-5 in the Big East, good enough for 3rd place in the standings. Malik is averaging 15.5 ppg which is still tops on his team.

Omari continues to normally play 10-15 minutes in most of the Indiana Pacers games. He’s now averaging 5.2 ppg and 4.4 rpg. He’s so happy to be on an NBA roster than a G-League team, so no matter how much he gets to play, he’s satisfied…at least this season. He’s missed some games due to minor injuries, but that’s pretty normal for NBA players. It’s a demanding game and season.

Devany is starring on her 7th grade team, but the rest of the team isn’t all that good. She’s enjoying it though and doing well in her classes. She’s making lots of friends at her school and I think most all of them are good kids, so that’s good.

[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs (11-11, 6-7) @ UC San Diego Tritons (8-14, 5-8)

SF Kerry Hayes

Having Charles Gordon break his arm was really a downer. But it has meant that I get to play a lot more. In the past 3 games, I’ve totalled 46 minutes of playing time and have scored 9 points, grabbed 8 boards, dished out 7 assists, and made 3 steals. The coaches seem pleased with how I’ve performed.

We played poorly in our previous game against the Tritons, losing at home 88-71. We need to win against them tonight go get back up to .500 in the conference and avoid dropping back into a tie with the Tritons in the standings. UC San Diego has won 2 of their last 3 games, including a big upset of league-leading Cal State Fullerton on the Titans’ home court.

Coach Fed was upset early due to our making a bunch of turnovers that caused us to fall behind 9-2 after 4-1/2 minutes of play. He put me into the game at that point. We came back to take a 13-10 lead with just over 11 minutes left in the half. I went back to the bench at the 9:45 mark after pulling down 3 rebounds. The Tritons took a 4 point lead but we tied them at 17-17 with 7-1/2 minutes to go til halftime. I checked back into the game with 5-1/2 minutes left and us behind 21-19. We pulled ahead again at the 3:50 mark. I left the game with 1:47 on the clock with us leading 27-21. With fouls plaguing our big men, Coach Fed put me in at PF in the final minute of the half. The half ended with us leading 32-30. C Don Seals scored 11 points and had 5 rebounds in the first half. I had played 11 minutes and had 4 rebounds but had missed my only shot.

We scored the first 6 points of the 2nd half. I went back in with 16-1/2 minutes remaining…we led 38-32. I was replaced at the 2nd media time out with us ahead 46-43 and 10:49 to play. I hit both my shots during my time on the court that time. Don Seals picked up his 4th foul with 9:44 to go with us still ahead by 3. Derrick LaLane picked up foul #4 a half minute later and Coach Fed put me back in at PF with the game tied. I got fouled with 5:53 remaining but missed both shots. Don Seals fouled out with just under 6 minutes left. I was subbed out at that point. We trailed by 2 points, but then the Tritons scored 7 unanswered points. With 2 minutes to go we trailed 59-53 and I was put back into the game. The Tritons kept us from coming back and we lost 65-55.

Topping our scoring were SG Terrell Alexander with 14 points, C Don Seals with 13 points, and PF Derrick LaLane with 10 points. I scored 4 points and had 4 rebounds in 22 minutes of play. The Tritons’ PF Devone Huge sunk us by scoring 29 points.

We’re now tied for 7th place in the Big West. It wasn’t a fun bus ride home. Coach Fed didn’t get on us, but I’m pretty sure that rather than being upset by our poor shooting down the stretch, he’s concerned about how many turnovers we made in the game.

[PointGuard]

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (9-15, 8-7) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (11-12, 6-8)

Jack Stevens, neighbor of the Aura’s

My wife and I are really happy that Janeka and Fred Aura moved in next to us. We’ve become good friends of theirs. Since my wife and Janeka both work in health care, they’ve become exceptionally close.

I’m not a big basketball fan, so this is just the 2nd game I’ve attended this season. Fred told me that in the previous game at Hawaii, the Mustangs put up a good fight but trailed by 5-10 points the entire game and lost 74-65. The Rainbow Warriors now have a 3-game win streak going. SG Clay Childs is their leading scorer (16.8 ppg), but SF Justin Green (10.3 ppg) and C Brad Johnson (11.5 ppg) hit a higher percentage of their shots.

The first half in tonight’s game was darned close with 14 lead changes. The Mustangs pulled ahead in the last few minutes to take a narrow 28-26 lead to the locker room.

Cal Poly came out and led by a small amount throughout the first 12 minutes of the 2nd half. The Mustangs’ offense then caught fire while forcing Hawaii to make several key turnovers. That resulted in Cal Poly pulling ahead by 14 and winning by a solid 78-68 margin.

The Mustangs outscored Hawaii 38-20 in the paint and 10-5 on 2nd chance points. 4 starters and the team’s 6th man all scored in double figures (PF Derrick LaLane-18 pts, SG Terrell Alexander-15 pts, PG Aki Mosley-11 pts, PF/C Curtis Pearson-10 pts, and C Don Seals-10 pts). Terrell Alexander was the most exciting player for the Mustangs. SF Victor Carson just seemed to disappear on the court and Kerry Hayes, who substituted at SF for 15 minutes, played much better. Pearson also pulled down 11 rebounds and Alexander had 8 boards, 5 assists, 4 steals and a block. Hawaii’s offense centered around SG Clay Childs who scored 24 points.

[PointGuard]

Fred Aura

Word came out yesterday that the Georgetown Hoyas basketball program has been penalized by the NCAA for significant illegal recruiting activities related to 3 players. The team will be prohibited from playing in post-season tournaments for 2 years and barred from recruiting for 3 years. The 3 players who received bribes have already graduated and left the university, so they’re unaffected by this.

Malik called today and said he’s really bummed out by what the coaching staff did and how it’s going to affect his team. He expects head coach Ike Long and at least some of the assistant coaches will be fired. Because the penalty will keep the team from playing in the NCAA Tournament, he’s considering transferring this coming summer. He said others on the team are also thinking about transferring. Malik’s decision is complicated by the fact that he’ll just have one year of eligibility left after this season concludes. I told him to try to push this entire issue out his mind until the end of this season, concentrate on playing well and getting good grades, and that we could talk about his options before the next Transfer Portal occurs.

I had heard rumors a few months ago that the NCAA was investigating Georgetown, but didn’t anticipate they would be found guilty of anything. I know Ike and am really surprised that he got caught up in something like this. He’s been the head coach at Georgetown for a long time and has consistently produced teams with 20+ wins each season that have participated in post-season tournament play every year. Ike’s 68 years old, so he may decide to retire.

[PointGuard]

UC Riverside Highlanders (13-12, 8-8) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (12-12, 7-8)

Rob Benchley, Athletic Director

Our team has been pretty much in the middle of the pack in the Big West this season. With the available talent on this season’s squad, I think that’s about as good as we could possibly do. I think it will take another couple seasons before Coach Aura can build our program into one that can compete for the conference championship. But between him and Zahara Carter, his assistant, they’ve infused some excitement within the community so our home crowds, while not yet as big as any of us would like, are at least bigger.

We beat the Highlanders by 4 points when we played on their court, but we had SF Charles Gordon healthy and playing for us then. Victor Carson and Kerry Hayes have played at SF since Gordon got injured, but there definitely has been a lack of consistency at the “3”. UC Riverside’s SF James Humphrey is averaging 16.4 ppg, so Carson and Hayes need to keep him in check tonight. In our first game against the Highlanders, PF Mike King came up big and threw down 21 points against us.

We led for much of tonight’s game, but had problems during the middle stages of both the 1st and 2nd half. The Highlanders moved in front at those points and it took a big effort on our part to come back each time to gain a 34-28 halftime lead and win by final scored of 68-55. I was really impressed by the how our team put on a big surge in the final 7 minutes of tonight’s game. It was led by SG Terrell Alexander who finished with a career high 26 points. C Don Seals scored 12 and PG Aki Mosley had 10 points. PF Derrick LaLane came in off the bench to scored 8 points and pull down 8 boards plus dish out 4 assists. Carson and Hayes just played 3 points at SF between the two of them. This game was won primarily by stout defensive play by our guys…holding UC Riverside’s shooting to just 39% (and 20% of their 3-point attempts).

The win evened our conference record at 8-8 which places us in 5th place in the Big West, but there are two teams just ½ game behind us and another team 1-game behind us in the standings. 4 games remain in the regular season…2 away then 2 at home. Our next game is on the road against first-place Cal State Fullerton who thumped us by 14 points when they played us here a month ago. The Titans do well offensively but it’s their 1-3-1 defense that has set them apart this season with opponents averaging just 63.1 ppg (25th best in Division 1 this season). They’re on a 3-game win streak with all 3 of those wins occurring on the road during which the Titans allowed their opponents an average of 55 ppg.

[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs (13-12, 8-8) @ Cal State Fullerton Titans (17-8, 12-4)

San Luis Obispo Tribune

MUSTANGS LET VICTORY SLIP FROM THEIR FINGERS

Cal State Fullerton got off to a quick start to lead 15-6. Thirteen turnovers hampered Cal Poly throughout the half. The Mustangs cut into the lead, though, but were unable to catch up until the final minute when PF Derrick LaLane scored inside and was fouled. He converted the 3-point play to give Cal Poly their first lead at 30-29 which is where the score stood when the half ended.

Turnovers continued to bedevil the Mustangs in the 2nd half and the Titans took advantage to pull out to a 44-36 lead with 11 minutes remaining. Cal Poly also was shackled with fouls and PF/C Curtis Pearson fouled out with 7 minutes left in the game. Then the Mustangs shooting deteriorated and Cal State Fullerton rapidly pulled away to stomp the Titans 66-48.

After hitting 44% of their shots in the first half, the Mustangs shooting for the entire game was a horrible 37% and they only hit 13% of their 3-point attempts. They made 25 turnovers compared to just 8 by the Titans. The only area of the game that Cal Poly excelled in was rebounding where they held a 39-30 advantage. Coach Fred Aura said, “We completely fell apart and simply stunk up the gym In the 2nd half. Our only player who had a really good game was Derrick LaLane.”

PF Derrick LaLane had 14 points and 12 rebounds. PF/C Curtis Pearson added 10 points.

[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs (13-13, 8-9) @ Cal State Bakersfield (12-15, 6-11)

SG Victor Carson

We lost to these guys by 4 points when they visited earlier this year. We let them score too easily from outside and we made too many unforced errors…23 turnovers. We fell way behind and made a mad run late in the game, but were unable to catch up. C Doylan Madsen and SG Donte Bernard both are averaging 15-1/2 points per game and SG/SF Larry Fields is averaging 12 ppg, so a big effort will be to control those two guys.

I’ve not been happy with how I’ve been playing lately and I guess my coaches are feeling the same way. Derrick LaLane is going to start at SF instead of me, but Coach Fed told me I’d be subbing in pretty early, so we’ll see how it goes.

Don Seals drew a foul on Madsen on our initial possession. Hopefully we can get another quick one of that guy and send him to the bench early. The zebras are calling it tight. 2 fouls on each team in the first 2-1/2 minutes. At that point, I’m put into the game. Then T-Man (Terrell Alexander) picks up his 2nd foul and I’m moved from SF to SG. Madsen commits his 2nd foul with 16 minutes left in the half and Seals hits a free throw for our first point of the game. We trail 15-5 with 12 minutes to go before halftime. Coach Fed is on us about our turnovers. A minute later I get to the line and hit both shots and hit another free throw 30 seconds later, making the score 17-8. Foul trouble is forcing Coach Fed to play our walkons a lot and we hanging 6-10 points behind for much of the half. But we finally begin hitting some field goals. I pick off a pass and make a nice outlet pass to Hawk (Scott Torrey) who throws down the jam cutting the lead to 28-25 with 2 minutes remaining. The half ends with us behind by just 2 at 38-36. Don Seals didn’t shoot well but led our scoring with 7 points. I had 6 points, 3 boards, and 3 assists. But Coach Fed is really on us in the locker room on protecting the ball (we made 9 turnovers) and tightening our defense overall, but particularly on Donte Bernard who scored 11 points. With T-Man having 3 fouls, I’ll be starting at SG when the 2nd half begins.

Indy (Derrick LaLane) gets free in the lane and hits a nice jumper to tie the game on our first possession of the 2nd half. I get fouled on a shot on our next possession and drop in both foul shots to give us our first lead at 40-38. It doesn’t last long as the Roadrunners hit a 3 and another FG to go up by 3. Three straight turnovers on which the Roadrunners score 7 points puts us behind 59-49 with 11 minutes to go. We’re down by 14 with 9 minutes remaining due to Cal State Bakersfield hitting a barrage of 3’s. Coach Fed makes some defensive adjustments which does make it more difficult for Bakersfield to score, but since we aren’t hitting a high percentage of our shots and are still making turnovers, we only able to cut the lead to 10 points with 2 minutes to go. And when the buzzer sounds we’re on the short end of a 76-70 score.

Our top scorers: C Don Seals with 19 points, PF Curtis Pearson with 13, and me with 10. I also had 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 6 steals…so a good game for me, but it doesn’t feel like it since we lost. CSU Bakersfield’s SG Donte Bernard scored 22 points.

The loss dropped us all the way down into a tie for 7th and put a lot of pressure on us to win our final two games, both of which are at home.

[PointGuard]

UC Davis Aggies (7-20, 5-13) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (13-14, 8-10)

Cal Poly Mustangs Sports Message Board

Hey, Mustangs fans…were ya at the b-ball game last night? If not, ya missed a good one. Our guys came out strong and stayed that way all the way to the end. They built a 32-23 halftime advantage and then in the 2nd half continually added to UC Davis’ deficit. By dominating all aspects of the game, the Mustangs slaughtered the Aggies 67-48.

All of Cal Poly’s scoring was accomplished by the 5 starters. PG Aki Mosley and SG Terrell Alexander both scored 17, C Don Seals tossed in 14, PF Curtis Pearson scored 10, and SF Victor Carson added 9. Seals also had 12 rebounds and 5 assists.

By winning, the Mustangs are now in a 3-way tie for 5th place in the Big West.

Next they play Cal State Northridge this Friday. Better be there.

[PointGuard]

Cal State Northridge Matadors (13-15, 10-9) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (14-14, 9-10)

San Luis Obispo Tribune

MUSTANGS CONCLUDE REGULAR SEASON PLAY

Win their final regular season game against Cal State Northridge and tie for 4th place, lose it and tie for 6th place. That's what was at stake for the Mustangs. Cal Poly lost to the Matadors by 15 points in a game played at Northridge. Cal State Northridge was favored to win again. They were led by SG Tom Adams (15.9 ppg) and SF Chris Newton (13.5 ppg).

The Matadors played solid defense in the 1st half, leading most all the way and finishing the half ahead 33-27. They expanded their lead in the first 7 minutes of the 2nd half to as much as 11 points. Then the Mustangs defense clamped down and Cal Poly went on a 12-2 run and tied the game with 9 minutes to go. The lead shifted back and forth 8 times in the next 5 minutes. The Mustangs’ defense again shut down Cal State Northridge allowing Cal Poly to pull away for a decisive 73-62 win.

Leading the assault was C Don Seals who finished with 24 points. SG Terrell Alexander had 14 points and 8 rebounds and PF Derrick LaLane scored 10 and grabbed 6 boards.

Cal Poly’s victory evened their Big West record at 10-10 and moved them into a 3-way tie for 4th place.

FINAL BIG WEST STANDINGS

UC Irvine…16-4…22-8… NET Ranking 45
Cal State Fullertong…14-6…19-10… NET Ranking 115
UC Santa Barbara…14-6…19-11… NET Ranking 83
Cal State Northridge…10-10…13-16… NET Ranking 214
Cal Poly…10-10…15-14... NET Ranking 165
Hawaii…10-10…11-18… NET Ranking 207
UC Riverside…9-11…14-15… NET Ranking 169
US San Diego…9-11…12-17… NET Ranking 248
Cal State Bakersfield…8-12…14-16… NET Ranking 261
Long Beach State…5-15…10-19… NET Ranking 295
UC Davis…5-15…7-22… NET Ranking 336

[PointGuard]

C. J. Costa, 1st Assistant Coach (recruiting)

This week we landed our 5th recruit. It was Donald Brown who is from Folsom, CA and is a 6’7” SF. He’ll be transferring to us from a JC where he scored 10.7 ppg and had 5.3 rpg, 3.4 apg, 2.4 spg, and 1.7 bpg. While he’s not a highly ranked recruit (936th), he’s a solid overall player who may challenge for a starting position, but is more likely to be a sound player to bring in off the bench.

We still have 2 unfilled scholarships. We have one scholarship offer pending and plan to make another offer soon.