SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs (12-13, 8-8) @ UC Riverside Highlanders (11-15, 10-7)

San Luis Obispo Tribune

MUSTANGS HEAT UP ON THE ROAD

Cal Poly ventured onto the road last night to take on the University of California Riverside Highlanders. On paper the two teams appeared evenly matched. In their previous game this season the Mustangs prevailed at home but just by 3 points. But the Mustangs had lost 3 of their last 4 games where as the Highlanders had won 3 of their last 4 games and were a game-and-a-half ahead of Cal Poly in the Big West Conference standings.

The Highlanders used the 3 to move out to a 9 point lead early in the game. But the Mustangs came back to get within a single point at the midpoint of the half. Then with 5:42 remaining, Victor Carson took a sharp cross-court pass from Aki Mosley and quickly put up an 18 foot jump shot that settled smoothly between the silks to put the Mustangs on top 31-30. With 2 minutes remaining, Mosley got the ball inside to Donald Blackman who sent it right back to Mosley. Mosley made a nice crossover dribble and got by his man, drove down the lane and kissed a layup off the glass to put Cal Poly ahead 40-36. Coach Aura called a time out with 8 seconds to go and the play he set up worked perfectly as Mosley was able to score on a give-and-go to give the Mustangs a 46-40 halftime lead.

Cal Poly went on an 8-2 run to begin the 2nd half putting them ahead by 12. But UC Riverside quickly cut their lead to just 4 points. The Mustangs stubbornly held the Highlanders from getting closer and then hit shots from all over the court to build their lead to 72-53 with 5:25 remaining. UC Riverside then made a frantic comeback effort that rapidly cut into the Mustangs’ lead, but there just wasn’t enough time left to catch up. Cal Poly came away with a big road win to the tune of 77-71.

Aki Mosley topped all scorers by putting in 19 points. Victor Carson scored 13 points, Denny Grove put in 10 points and Terrell Alexander had 8 points and 7 rebounds filling in for Dean Plowman who injured his leg.

Coach Fred Aura said, “The refs were calling a lot of fouls so both teams went to the line a lot. The Highlanders shot a lot better than us at the free throw line. But we shot extremely well from the field and then had a great run in the middle portion of the 2nd half. That was fortunate since UC Riverside came back so strongly in the final 5 minutes.”

[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs (13-13, 9-8) @ Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners (9-18, 5-13)

1st Assisistant Coach C.J. Costa

We beat these guys by 10 at our place. But their SG Earl Smith dropped in 26 points against us. We need to throttle that guy tonight.

We missed our first 11 shots, got called for 5 fouls, and fell behind 9-0 before Dean Plowman buried a 3 with 14:44 remaining in the half. And things got worse from there. We got trounced by a score of 36-17 in the first half. We hit just 18% of our FG’s, 14% of our 3’s, 33% of our FT’s and let the Roadrunners toss in 50% of their FG’s and 46% of their 3’s.

The 2nd half just added to our embarrassment. We got drubbed 83-53 by the last place team in our conference.

PF Denny Grove scored 10 and the other 4 starters combined to score just 8 points. Reserve SG Terrell Alexander topped our scoring with 14 points.

The lopsided loss brought out some of worst in 4 of our players after the game, so Coach Aura had to counsel Donald Blackmon, John Gibbs, Roland Holland, and Jay Rush.

[PointGuard]

Long Beach State 49ers (14-13, 10-8) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (13-14, 9-9)

Jack Stevens, neighbor of Coach Fred Aura

Fred and Janeka Aura have turned out to be very good neighbors. This is the first game I’ve attended this year but Fred got me a good seat and I didn’t have to pay.

I graduated from Long Beach State, but that was a long time ago and now that I live in San Luis Obispo, while not a big fan, I root for the Mustangs. The 49ers ripped Cal Poly two months ago, beating them by 21 points in a game played on the 49ers’ court. Fred told me Long Beach State was a good shooting team. But they’ve gone into a slump recently, losing 5 of their last 6 games.

Long Beach State is a good shooting team…they didn’t miss from the field for the first 4-1/2 minutes of the game. The Mustangs played tough though and stayed close and even drew even with the 49ers a few times. Finally with 8:46 remaining, Cal Poly took their first lead of the game when Donald Blackmon scored inside from the left side of the key to make it 19-17. Three minutes later the Mustangs were ahead by 9 points. The team shooting best throughout the entire half was Cal Poly and that resulted in their holding a 41-30 halftime advantage.

Within the first 3 minutes of the 2nd half, the Mustangs lead had increased to 16 points. Then with 8 minutes remaining in the game, the Mustangs led 62-40 due to some solid defense and the crowd was cheering lustily. The 49ers were unable to get closer than the final margin of 74-58.

PF Denny Grove scored 14 and had 8 rebounds, PG Aki Mosley scored 10, and reserve SF Victor Carson had 9 points and 6 boards. Fred Aura told when I saw him the next day that he was most pleased to have his bench players score a combined 29 points and pick off 18 rebounds.

[PointGuard]

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (13-15, 9-10) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (14-14, 10-9)

Benny Tamago, realtor (fan)

I’ve always liked basketball since I was a little kid. I played it but not particularly well. In high school I didn’t make the varsity team until my senior year and even that was sort of a gift by the coach for me sticking it out with the freshman and JF teams throughout my first 3 years in high school. I’ve had season tickets for Cal Poly games for many years and used to come to every game. When the team got so poor a few years ago, I still came but missed some games, particularly those against the better teams since I was sure we’d lose badly. I figured this season would be a replay of those years, but to my surprise the team has done pretty well. I’ve come to all the home games and I’ve been rewarded by seeing the Mustangs win 12 out of 13 here.

We played Hawaii over 2 months ago and lost badly when playing them in the islands. But the Rainbow Warriors were riding high then. They’ve had a touch time recently though, losing 8 of their last 10 games. Most every game either their offense or their defense has fizzled. This is our final regular season game. It will be the final game for seniors Dean Plowman, Denny Grove, Arlie Wesley and Roland Holland. The team will miss them next season, particularly Plowman and Grove since they couldn’t recruit this season and can’t go after transfer players this cming summer. I hope all 4 have a good final performance here at Mott Athletic Center. It’s nice that Coach Aura is starting all 4 players for “senior night”. It’ll be Wesley first start as a Mustang. Holland has a hamstring injury so probably will be subbed out pretty quickly.

There were 13 lead changes in the first half with neither team able to move out to more than a 4 point lead. Cal Poly scored 8 unanswered points late in the half, though, to come away with a 46-39 advantage. The Mustangs outshot and out-rebounded Hawaii but made a few more turnovers. SG Dean Plowman scored 11 points but Hawaii’s C David Keating and SG Brad Goodwyn scored 12 and 11 points, respectively.

The early part of the first half came down to Plowman and Mosely for the Mustangs vs Goodwyn and Keating for the Rainbow Warriors. Those 4 were scoring all the points. Cal Poly gradually expanded their lead and with 12 minutes to go were ahead 64-52. But the Mustangs shooting went cold and turnovers bloomed…and Hawaii closed the gap to 65-64 with 4:34 remaining. With a minute to go, Cal Poly was on top 71-67, but PG Aki Mosley had fouled out. A turnover awarded the ball to Hawaii with 43 seconds left. Hawaii hit a 3 from the right corner with 22 seconds on the clock and fouled on the inbounds thrown in. Terrell Alexander went to the line for a one-and-one. He hit the first and then the second to give the Mustangs a 3 point lead. The Mustangs harassed all the way up court leaving Hawaii just a final chance for a 3. The ball seemed to hang in the air for eternity, but grazed the back of the rim and bounced out. Cal Poly escaped with an exciting 73-70 victory.

SG Dean Plowman had a fantastic final home game, scoring 25 points plus getting 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block. PG Aki Mosley scored 13 and had 7 assists. PF Denny Grove had 9 points and 6 boards. We're really going to miss Dean and Denny. Hawaii’s C David Keating had 23 points and 6 rebounds.

The win improved the Mustangs conference record to 11-9 and moved them into a 3-way tie for 2nd place along with Cal State Fullerton and UC Riverside. Pretty impressive for the condition that the past coach left the team in, so kudos to Coach Aura.

[PointGuard]

Big West Final Standings

UC Santa Barbara: 15-5, 20-9, NET Ranking: 73
Cal State Fullerton: 11-9, 17-12, NET Ranking: 135
Cal Poly: 11-9, 15-14, NET Ranking: 250
UC Riverside: 11-9, 12-17, NET Ranking: 248
Long Beach State: 10-10, 14-15, NET Ranking: 286
Cal State Northridge: 10-10, 13-16, NET Ranking: 214
UC Irvine: 10-10, 12-17, NET Ranking: 195
Hawaii: 9-11, 13-16, NET Ranking: 181
UC San Diego: 9-11, 12-17, NET Ranking: 287
Cal State Bakersfield: 7-13, 11-18, NET Ranking: 319
UC Davis: 7-13, 8-21, NET Ranking: 322

[Wayne23]

Tied for 2nd in Conf. is terrific!

[PointGuard]

Tied for 2nd in Conf. is terrific!

Yeah, I'm in total shock.

These guys played completely over their heads. I thought maybe we'd win between 8 and 10 games throughout the year and between 4 and 6 in the conference.

[PointGuard]

BIG WEST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT

Day 1:

#11 seed UC Davis vs #6 seed Cal St. Northridge: Cal St. Northridge won 76-71
#10 seed Cal St. Bakersfield vs #7 seed UC Irvine: UC Irvin won 74-63
#9 seed UC San Diego vs #8 seed Hawaii: Hawaii won 80-76

Day 2 (Quarterfinals):

#8 seed Hawaii vs #1 seed UC Santa Barbara: UC Santa Barbara won 83-74
#7 seed UC Irvine vs #2 seed Cal State Fullerton: UC Irvin won 75-68
#5 seed Long Beach St. vs #4 seed UC Riverside: Long Beach St. won 77-73
#6 seed Cal St. Northridge vs #3 seed Cal Poly: Cal Poly trailed by 17 points midway through the first half but came back to cut the Matadors’ halftime lead to 41-34. It took the Mustangs 5-1/2 minutes to score in the 2nd half and by that time they were behind by 20 points. Cal Poly made a run but way too late in the game. Cal St. Northridge won 77-63. SF Jason Fleming scored 17, SG Terrell Alexander hit for 12, and SG Dean Plowman added 10.

Day 3 (Semifinals):

#5 seed Long Beach St. vs #1 seed UC Santa Barbara: UC Santa Barbara won 71-54
#6 seed Cal St. Northridge vs #7 seed UC Irvine: UC Irvine won 66-56

Day 4 (Championship):

#7 seed UC Irvine vs #1 seed UC Santa Barbara: UC Santa Barbara won 69-66

UC Santa Barbara subsequently became the 13th seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament.

[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs Team and Player Stats:

Rob Benchley, Athletic Director

The season’s over, but Coach Aura produced a minor miracle by pulling together the disparate group of players left after the wreckage produced by the previous head coach. He tripled the number of wins we had the previous season and took us from dead last in the Big West to a tie for 2nd place. He and I have talked and both feel that similar success will not be possible in next season. We’re losing two of our best players to graduation and have no way of replacing them with players on scholarship due to the penalties imposed by the NCAA after the cheating scandal. Not only that, but it’s very possible that one or more of our remaining scholarship players could transfer since I’m sure they also can foretell a downturn next year. So that means the team will be composed primarily of walkons next season.

But for now we rejoice in what has been a surprising and exciting season of basketball that has just concluded. Here’s a brief summary about this season’s team:

Team:

Season Record: 15-15; Conference Record: 11-9; NET Ranking: 250
PPG: 67.3; Opponents PPG: 69.8; APG: 16.1; RPG: 33.4; BPG: 2.8; SPG: 5.2
FG%: 43.1; 3P%: 33.3; FT%: 74.5

Top Players:

PPG: Plowman—11.8; Mosley—11.4; Grove—9.0; Fleming—8.2; Holland—5.3; Carson—5.2; Blackmon—4.4
RPG: Grove—6.6; Plowman—4.2; Holland—4.2; Fleming—3.6; Carson—3.5; Blackmon—3.3
APG: Mosley—4.1; Plowman—1.9; Gibbs—1.7; Blackmon—1.6; Grove—1.5; Carson—1.5

And FYI, here’s the Top 10 Teams in Polls: Gonzaga, Maryland, Duke, Clemson, Oklahoma St., Ohio St., Florida, Alabama, UCONN, Boston College

[PointGuard]

Fred Aura

My old team, Boston College, finished the season with a 22-8 record and finished tied for 7th place in the ACC with a 12-8 record. They were ranked 10th in the polls and their NET Ranking was 23rd best. They lost the ACC Tourney Championship game to North Carolina. They are the 4th seed in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament.
Top scorers: Corey Graham—15.6; Bobby Grannum—13.7; Ben Schau—12.9; Brent Jepperson—10.1; Darius Hein—6.6
Top rebounders: Ben Schau—10.2; Brent Jepperson—8.2; Darius Hein—5.2
Top in assists: Bobby Grannum—5.4; Corey Graham—3.1, Ben Schau—2.3

I’m glad the team did so well this year and hope they have a great run in the NCAA Tourney. PG Bobby Grannum, who is completing his junior year, declared early for the draft. I called him to wish him well. He’s had a helluva a good collegiate career, starting 105 of the 106 games BC has played in his 3 years there, averaging 12 ppg and over 5 apg and this season hit 45% of his FGA’s, 38% of his 3PA’2, and 85% of his FTA’s. I think he could become a very good NBA player.

Meanwhile the Towson Tigers, the first team I coached in Division 1, went 5-25 and 4-14 in the Colonial Athletic Association which put them in a tie for last place in the CAA. The first season after I left, they were 26-8 and got into the 2nd round of the NCAA Tourney, then the next season they were 18-15 but got back into the NCAA Tourney where they lost their first game. Subsequently they were 15-15, 18-14, 15-15, and 16-14 without any more NCAA Tourney appearances before plummeting precipitously this season. It’s disappointing to see them sink back down. But they had an extremely young team with 8 freshmen and 1 sophomore scholarship players and 4 walk-ons and just one junior and one senior scholarship player. So hopefully they will rebound in the next few years.

Malik’s team, Georgetown Hoyas, finished the season with a 21-10 record and they were 14-6 in the Big East Conference, good enough for a tie for 2nd place. The Hoyas are the 7th seed in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament. In his sophomore season Malik started all 31 games at PG and averaged 9.0 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 2.6 apg, 1.5 spg and 0.2 bpg. He scored in double figures in 15 games with a high of 17 points against Providence. He highest assist game was 6 and highest rebounding game was 6. He struggled a bit at the point, but overall did pretty darned good and I’m very proud of him.

Omari, my older son, never got a second call-up to the NBA. He finished his G-League season averaging 8.7 ppg, 7.1 rpg, and 2.2 apg. I think he did a pretty good job defensively. I'm hoping Memphis takes this into account and gives him a chance next season. He sustained a minor shoulder injury at the end of the season but is healing well and will be 100% early this summer.