SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

[PointGuard]

Jan. 24: Long Beach State 49ers (6-12, 3-6) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (12-5, 7-1)

KCPR—Cal Poly radio station (excerpts from play-by-play broadcast)

*The Big West schedule this season is weird. This game is the first of 4 straight home games for the Mustangs and that will be followed by 4 consecutive road games.
*The 49ers have been a streaky team this season, including a 6 game losing streak and a 4 game win streak. Overall its been a season with not much to crow about for Long Beach State. The 49ers like to run a fast-paced offense, but that’s not been particularly successful this season.
*The Mustangs are at full strength even though SF Trey Small still is encountering some hip soreness, but he will be starting as usual. But that didn’t limit him in his last game as he hit 5 of 7 FG’s, scored 14 points, and pulled down 8 boards.
*The game’s about to start. If you’re not here, you should be. The Mustangs are playing exciting ball this season.
*Well, fans it took 5 minutes and 5 seconds, 3 turnovers, 5 missed shots, but Cal Poly finally scores as Nikolos Ivelitsch takes his man to the basket and kisses the ball off the glass and down through the hoop. So they’re now tied at 2-2 since Long Beach State has been just as offensively unproductive early in this game.
*Wow, Scotty Lee again drives the lane and scores making it 8-3. That’s two times for Lee and once doing the same thing for Ivelitsch. It seems the Mustangs have found a hole in the 49ers’ defense.
*Collins hits a 12 footer from the right of the key making it 12-3 and he was fouled. But he’ll have to wait for his foul shot following the 2nd media timeout. We’ll be right back with you after this commercial.
*Ivelitsch with a sweet 13 foot jump shot to increase Cal Poly’s lead to 10 at 22-12 with 4:45 left in the half. The 49ers call a time out.
*The Mustangs continue to harass the 49ers making it tough for them to get clear for a shot. Long Beach State has hit just 20% of their shots.
*That concludes the first half. Cal Poly on top 27-16 following 20 minutes of tenacious defense by the Mustangs that stifled Long Beach State’s offense. Cal Poly also totally dominated the boards, 26-14. But the Mustangs need to improve their shooting in the 2nd half, since they hit just 37% of their FG’s and 11% of their 3’s.
*The 49ers have cracked Cal Poly’s defense here in the 2nd half and now trail by just 7 points with 13 minutes remaining in the game.
*Collier connects and the Mustangs have responded to Long Beach State’s threat with an 8-2 run to put them ahead 46-33 with 11-1/2 minutes to go.
*17 unanswered points now by the 49ers to put them ahead 50-46 with 7 minutes left to play.
*Collier and Ivelitsch have put Cal Poly back on top 54-51.
*Fouls mounting on the Mustangs. Both Preston and Small now have 4 fouls apiece.
*Following the timeout called by Coach Aura, the Mustangs aren’t even able to get off the play since Long Beach State fouls intentionally. Scotty Lee goes to the line. He makes the first. Now the 2nd shot falls cleanly through the hoop putting Cal Poly ahead 60-56 with 30 seconds to go. Long Beach State calls a time out.
*Ryan Grant hits a short jumper from the left of the key and he’s fouled on the shot. He hits the free throw to cut the lead to a single point. 23 seconds remain.
*The Mustangs beat the 1-2-1-1 press. Ivelitsch is fouled right after getting into the forecourt. 17 seconds to go. Oh no, he missed the first shot. But he knocks down the 2nd. Another timeout called by the 49ers.
*Good D by Cal Poly making the 49ers work the ball around trying to find a good shot. With 2 seconds to go, they’re forced to put up a shot from the left corner. It rims around and out. Cal Poly has held on to win 61-59. Coach Aura lets out a big sigh of relief.
*The only Cal Poly player to score in double figures was SG Nikolos Ivelitsch with 16 points. He also had 10 rebounds and 3 assists. PF/C Victor Collier had 9 points and 7 boards.
*We’ve got Coach Aura here before he heads to the locker room…”Coach, did you expect this to be such a tough game?” “Josh, you never know how tough a game will be. We had a solid lead and let them run over us late on that big run. We just fell apart but fortunately recovered to regain the lead. This game was really a defensive battle. Had it not been for our control of the boards, I don’t think we would have won.”

[PointGuard]

Jan. 27: UC San Diego Tritons (7-12, 3-7) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (13-5, 8-1)

1st Assistant Coach Bryan King

Coach Aura was ill and had to miss this game. So I handled the team tonight. We had Vincent Collier starting at PF again following his strong play in our last game.

There were 7 lead changes before the first media timeout. But then we took a small lead and didn’t give it up the rest of the half to lead 33-27 at the break. Again our defense was the strongest part of our game in the half.

Then in the 2nd half, we simply crushed the Tritons defensively. We scored 40 points in that half and only let UC San Diego score 14. The result was a 73-41 thrashing of the Tritons. We outshot UC San Diego 51% to 31% and let them hit just 1 of 14 attempts from outside the arc. We also controlled the boards, finishing +13 in rebounds.

We held C Doylan Augustine to just 4 points (7 points below his average) and held PG Cliff Burke scoreless (10 points beneath his average). PG Danny Preston led our scoring with 19 points. SF Eddie Erskin came in off the bench to score 13 points in 16 minutes on the court. C Dekker Chambers had 11 points and 10 boards plus 5 assists and 2 blocks. PF Vincent Collier scored 10, grabbed 7 rebounds, dished out 4 assists, and blocked 3 shots. I played our bench less than what Coach Aura does, but just wanted to get a good solid win under our belts.

We’re now 2-1/2 games ahead of the two teams tied for 2nd place, UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Bakersfield.

Nikolos Iveltisch sustained a blow to his arm that could possibly limit him in our next game.

[PointGuard]

The Jamie Monroe Big West Review

After a 6 game win streak was broken, Cal Poly played 3 games this week and had 2 narrow victories and one blow-out win. The Mustangs now are 2-1/2 games ahead of their closest rivals in the Big West standings. But Cal State Bakersfield has won 4 straight games to improve their conference record to 6-3 and move into a tie with UC Santa Barbara for 2nd place. UC Davis lost both of their games this week to slip down into sole possession of 4th place, 3 games behind the Mustangs. Hawaii played 2 home games and an away game this week…and lost all 3 to solidify their hold on last place in the conference. The Rainbow Warriors are now 1-18 this season and are 1-9 in the Big West.

Conference awards finally went to players who do NOT play for Cal State Bakersfield. Jamie Howard of US Santa Barbara was named the Big West Play of the Week for scoring 36 points, grabbing 6 rebounds, dishing out 8 assists, and getting 7 steals. UC Davis’ Jamil Barnes was the confenence Freshman Player of the Week. Although the Aggies lost both of their games this week, Barnes had 25 points, 15 rebounds, 8 assists, a steal and 2 blocks in those games.

Although there were a few minor injuries this week, there were no major ones.

[PointGuard]

Bryan King, 1st Assistant Coach (recruiting)

SAT scores got reported yesterday. We checked in with our 5 recruits and they all came through with flying colors. So with all our scholarships filled, our recruiting is now complete for this year. After the season is over, I’ll provide an update on how each of our recruits did during their high school senior seasons.

[PointGuard]

Jan. 30: Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (1-18, 1-9) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (14-5, 9-1)

Zahara Carter, Assistant (sports administration)

Hawaii fans usually turn out well to attend games here, but with the Rainbow Warriors having such a horrible season, there are far fewer fans than usual.

It took Hawaii 6-1/2 minutes to make their first FG, but we were only up by 5 points at that point. But as the half progressed, it was the Mustangs who had the more difficult time putting the ball in the hoop. Both teams ended up shooting in the low 30%’s. We escaped with a lead but only at 22-17 at halftime.

Our shooting improved in the 2nd half and our defense continued to shut down the Rainbow Warriors. With 9 minutes to go we had taken a 45-21 lead. We went on to score an easy victory, 65-33. While we outshot and out-rebounded Hawaii, we made just 7 turnovers to 18 by the Rainbow Warriors.

With Coach Aura playing the entire roster extensively, our only player to score in double figures was Scotty Lee with 11 points. The top scorer for Hawaii had 7 points.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 3: Cal State Northridge Matadors (8-12, 6-5) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (15-5, 10-1)

Mike Estevez, Cal Poly student and basketball fan

I should be studying for my chem test, but coming to the ball game sounded like a lot more fun. Plus maybe I’ll pick up a few moves that I can use when playing on my intramural team. My best friend from high school goes to Cal State Northridge, and after I watch the Mustangs stomp the Matadors, I’ll be able to rub his nose in their loss. Cal Poly beat Cal State Northridge by 11 points when playing them on their court 5 weeks ago. But the Matadors are a pretty good road team. They’ve won 3 of the 6 conference games they’ve played on the road. SG Mike Forrest is still scoring well, averaging 18.5 ppg. So our guys better play their asses off so I can boast about us beating the Matadors.

Slow start by Cal Poly. The Mustangs hit a low percentage of their shots. But we carved out a small lead due to a bunch of turnovers by the Matadors. Once the Mustangs found their range, we steadily pulled away to go up 38-19 with 2-1/2 minutes left. Cal State Northridge cut into the lead a bit, but when the half ended Cal Poly possessed a 39-26 edge. PG’s Preston and La Touche combined to score 14 points for the Mustangs.

The Matadors scored 5 quick points to narrow the lead to 8 at the beginning of the 2nd half. With 11 minutes remaining Cal Poly led by just 3 at 46-43 as our shooting again had gone cold. But Estell Luton then hit back to back 3’s to make it 52-43. The Mustangs run continued and we went up 60-43 with 8 minutes to go. From there it was just a matter of time. Cal Poly whipped the Matadors 78-59.

Top scorer for the Mustangs was PG Danny Preston with 18 points and PF Calvis Barnes had 11 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks. Cal Poly put 12 players into the game and every one of them scored.

[PointGuard]

The Jamie Monroe Big West Review

Another week and another two wins for both of the teams at the top of the Big West standings. Cal Poly rolled over last place Hawaii and then man-handled a solid Cal State Northridge team to keep the Mustangs 2 games ahead of UC Santa Barbara which also won both of its games this week. The Gauchos had double-digit wins over Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine. Another Big West team recording 2 wins this past week was UC San Diego. The Tritons upset UC Riverside and then looked like they would annihilate UC Davis. But the Tritons squandered a 24 point halftime advantage and needed all of Cliff Burke’s 30 points to hold off the fast closing Aggies to eke out a 79-77 victory. That loss by UC Davis was their 3rd of the week and extending their losing streak to 5 games. The two bottom dwellers of the Big West standings, Cal State Fullerton and Hawaii lost both of their games this week. Hawaii now has lost 11 straight and their season record is a hapless 1-20 and conference record is 1-11.

Cal State Bakersfield players AGAIN gained both Big West weekly awards. David Barrett is the Player of the Week, his 4th such award this season. He scored 79 points and had 16 rebounds in the Roadrunners three games while Will Morris gained his 7th Freshman Player of the Week award by scoring 52 points, grabbing 10 boards, dishing out 18 assists and gaining 8 steals and 2 blocks.

There were several minor injuries reported by Big West teams this week…the most serious being a bruised calf to UC Santa Barbara’s Nathan Rivera, which is likely to sideline him a game or two.

Top scorers within the conference thus far are: Mike Forrest (Cal St. Northridge—18.5 ppg, David Barrett (Cal St. Bakersfield)—18.0 ppg, and Corey Heideman (UC Davis)—16.0 ppg, Jamie Howard (UC Santa Barbara)—15.1 ppg, and Michael Dahle (UC Irvine)—14.6 ppg. Leading rebounders are: Sean Neely (UC Riverside)—8.2 rpg, Sean Fox (UC Santa Barbara)—7.7 rpg, Earl Blizzard (Hawaii)—7.5 rpg, and Marc Hayes (UC Irvine)—7.4 rpg. Leading the conference in assists are: Jayson Miller (UC Davis)—5.6 apg, Speedy Ray (Long Beach St.)—5.4 apg, and Nathan Rivera (UC Santa Barbara)—5.2 apg.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 8, 2037: Cal Poly Mustangs (16-5, 11-1) @ UC Davis Aggies (7-15, 6-7)

Excerpts of Cal Poly’s KCPR radio broadcast of the game

*Hey Mustangs fans, it’s Gabby Greg Garrison here again to give you the call for Cal Poly’s game at UC Davis. The Mustangs are putting a 5-game win streak on the line while the Aggies are trying to break their 5-game loss streak. Four weeks ago UC Davis had a 4 and 1 Big West record and travelled to go up against the Mustangs. The Aggies left with their tails between their legs following a 90-65 pasting by the Mustangs. That loss knocked UC Davis out of 2nd place and things have gone downhill for them since. They’ve now dropped all the way down to 7th place in the conference standings. Their star center, Corey Heideman who was averaging 16 ppg, remains sidelined with a broken wrist. Top scorers for the Aggies now are: SG Adrian McCoy with 13.6 ppg, C Andrew Mann who’s averaging 10.2 ppg, SF Jamil Barnes with 9.6 ppg, PG Jayson Miller averaging 8.3 ppg, and PF Andy Collins who’s chipped in 7.6 ppg. McCoy is coming off a brilliant 30 point performance against UC Santa Barbara during which he almost single-handedly engineered a comeback of over 20 points that came within 2 points of upsetting the Gauchos.
*It’s game time. Victor Collier is starting in place of Dekker Chambers at center for Cal Poly. Chambers will play, but his time on the court will be limited due to his leg injury.
*Preston sinks the 3. It took the Mustangs nearly 3 minutes to score but that shot cut the Aggies lead to 5-3.
*The ball’s swung over to Preston who puts up a quick shot from outside the arc that drops through making it 8-5. Preston’s scored all 8 points for Cal Poly.
*Another miss by the Mustangs. Other than Preston, the rest of the team is now 0 for 12.
*Ivelitsch passes to Luton who works the ball inside and muscles it up over the defender for the first score by a Mustang other than Preston. Cal Poly trails 12-11 with 12 minutes left in the half.
*Both teams seem to have now figured out how to knock down some shots. The Mustangs are ahead 20-19 with 6 minutes on the clock.
*The Aggies are unable to break Poly’s press…the ref calls a 10 second violation. The Mustangs capitalize as Small knocks down his 3rd three pointer to make it 26-21 in favor of Cal Poly.
*Sloppy play by both teams in the final 4 minutes of the half. Cal Poly leaves the floor with a 33-30 lead, but only hit 33% of their shots. Trey Small has topped the Mustangs scoring with 12 points, all on 3’s.
*The Mustangs continue to shoot poorly in the 2nd half with the exception of Harris and Small who have combined for 27 of Cal Poly’s 47 points. Fortunately the Aggies are having problems getting the ball in the hoop so Cal Poly now is ahead by 8 points with 8:20 remaining.
*Ivelitsch is stone-cold. He’s missed all 8 FG’s and now misses both free throws. Coach Aura pulls him off and Scotty Lee takes his place.
*OK! Preston and Lee score 6 straight points to put Cal Poly ahead 53-46.
*Two straight turnovers by the Mustangs and UC Davis cuts the lead to 56-50 with 2-1/2 minutes to go.
*Another 3 by Trey Small. He’s really had the long distance range tonight.
*Coach Aura is stomping along the sidelines after yet another foul call. Andy Collins sinks both shots cutting the Mustangs lead to 7 points. I have the feeling Aura will be on his players about fouling, stopping the clock and putting the Aggies on the line while the Mustangs are trying to hold onto their lead as the clock ticks down.
*The Aggies are forced to foul and Cal Poly has now found their range at the foul line.
*Cal Poly comes away with a 67-57 victory. Both teams hit under 40% of their FG attempts, but the Mustangs dropped in 11 of 26 of their 3’s.
*SF Trey Small finished with 20 points, having hit 6 of 9 of his 3’s plus he pulled down 7 boards. PG Danny Preston had 14 points, 5 assists, a block, and 2 steals. And reserve SG Damien Harris scored 10 points plus had 3 rebounds and 2 assists. The Mustangs interior players hit just 4 of 19 FG attempts.

[PointGuard]

Omari Aura, 3rd Assistant Coach

We sat down with Nikolos Ivelitsch. His shooting has really fallen off, particularly from 3 point distance. We told him we wanted him to work on driving and posting up more and cut down on 3-pointers. He took it positively and agreed to work on it. I’m sure he’s been unhappy about how his scoring has tailed off, particularly in our last 4 games. We probably should have done this earlier in the season, but hopefully it will yield some positive results and get Nikolos back to scoring in double figures by the time we get to the conference tournament.

[PointGuard]

Feb. 10: Cal Poly Mustangs (17-5, 12-1) @ UC Riverside Highlanders (11-12, 7-7)

San Luis Obispo Tribune

MUSTANGS GALLOP TO LOPSIDED WIN

Led by Nikolos Ivelitsch’s 9 points, Cal Poly got off to an 18-6 lead 9 minutes into the game. The Mustangs continued to dominate and stretched their lead to 19 before settling for a 44-29 halftime advantage. Ivelitsch scorhed the nets for 17 points in the half.

Cal Poly increased their lead to 22 points five minutes into the 2nd half. With balanced scoring, the Mustangs held onto a big lead and bludgeoned the Highlanders by a final score of 85-61.

SG Nikolos Ivelitsch scored 17 and had 5 rebounds; SF Trey Small had 11 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks; PF/C Victor Collier scored 10 plus pulled down 7 rebounds; SF Eddie Erskin scored 10 and had 2 steals.

Cal Poly improved their Big West record to 13-1 and padded their lead in the standings to 3-1/2 games over 2nd place UC Santa Barbara.