by PointGuard » Sun Dec 11, 2022 9:27 pm
Cal State Fullerton Titans (6-7, 2-2) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (11-2, 4-0)
Tariq Meadows, High School Student
I’m a junior at Pioneer Valley High School in Santa Maria, California. My buddy Teesun Ventry and I decided to drive up to San Luis Obispo so we could attend a Mustangs game. We both are starters on our high school basketball team. I’d never really considered going to Cal Poly, but the team seems to be getting better and better. I was planning (well maybe, hoping) to go to a college in Oregon or Washington, but my parents have been encouraging me to look at schools within an hour or two of our home. I still think I’d prefer to get away to some place else, but Cal Poly has a good reputation academically and now that their team is decent, maybe it’s worth considering. Teesun said he was going to set up our meeting with Coach Aura, but he didn’t do it (that was a big letdown for me). So we just walked around the campus and are going to watch the game from the stands. The campus was OK and there were some real hotties walking around.
I like the way the Mustangs run their warmups and the music that was playing at that time. Not only did it get the team ready to play but got them psyched up as well. I wish our high school team did something like that.
Coach Aura was easy to see…he came in wearing a fedora as has been his trademark throughout his coaching career. I wonder if he wears it cuz he’s going bald. Teesun doesn’t think that’s the case, but I do. He didn’t take it off so no way I could know for sure (I guess he must have during the national anthem, but I was looking at the flag and not him then). I think it’s cool that his players call him Coach Fed because of his trademark hat.
Mott Athletic Center is nothing special, but there’s a pretty big crowd. The cheerleaders are bitchin’. “Musty”, the Cal Poly mascot with a horse’s head, is pretty dorky.
John McGadney, Cal State Fullerton’s senior SF, broke his elbow quite a while ago and still is not back playing with the team. I saw him play last year when the Titans came to take on UC Santa Barbara…the guy was a beast. With McGadney out of action, SG Travis Johnson is now the Titans’ leading scorer averaging 14.5 ppg. His backup, Shaheen Clark, looks pretty dope…sweet looking shots during warmups. Cal Poly’s Don Seals is averaging 14.4 ppg and has been the team’s big guy inside for a couple years…he looked like a smooth player, but I thought Terrell Alexander (I guess they call him T-Man) looked to be the team’s best shooter. Rumor has it that some of the freshmen on the Mustangs who came here thinking they’d play a lot are bummed they’re not getting many minutes. I’m not sure if that’s accurate though.
Cal Poly offense is primarily shuffle with some 5-out thrown in. On defense they shifted between m-2-m and a 2-3 zone. They pressed quite a bit….mostly just for harassment it seemed and to tire out CSU Fullerton’s guards. Our high school team mainly uses m-2-m…we throw in some zone but we suck at it.
Poly wasted no time…their two big guys (Seals and Pearson) hit back-to-back-to-back 3’s on their first three possessions and Seals knocked down a jumper on their 4th possession making it 11-1 just 2 minutes into the game. But Seals got 2 fouls called on him with 17:51 to go in the half and that sent him to the bench. Coach Fed was on the refs about that. Pearson continued to pump in points…he had 10 of the Mustangs first 15 points in the first 3 minutes of the game. Although CSU Fullerton was scoring at the line, it took them nearly 6 minutes to make their first FG. With Poly ahead 21-10, Coach Fed put in a bunch of subs since the starters were flaggin’. The subs and T-Man Alexander quickly upped the lead to 30-12. Fullerton’s coach has seen enough and called a timeout. With 11 minutes left in the half. Even though the Titans went on a small run late in the half, they still trailed badly (48-31) at halftime. C Curtis Pearson had hit all 5 of his shots (including 3 from beyond the arc) to score 13 points.
Coach Fed had kept Don Seals (with his 2 fouls) on the bench the last 17 minutes of the first half. It was good to see him back on the court to start the 2nd half. He’s just such a solid player. Mosley’s playing the point well but he's not hitting a lick. Coach Fed subbed him out early in the half. CSU Fullerton kept trying to get back into the game. They’d cut the lead to 13 or 14 points only to see Cal Poly hit some shots that would build their big lead back up. And that was the game…Cal Poly—90, Cal State Fullerton—70.
C Curtis Pearson—21 points and 6 boards; PF/SF Richard Lawson—18 points, 5 rebounds; SG Terrell Alexander—11 points; PF Don Seals—9 points, 6 boards; SF Donald Brown—8 points, 6 rebounds. For CSU Fullerton, SG Travis Jackson scored 25 points.
UC Santa Barbara also won so they’re ½ game ahead of Cal Poly for the conference lead.
Dynasty Threads:
Fedora-CB;Town Crier-CB;FIve Friends/Foes-CB;Media Perspective-CB;Whatever It Takes-CB;Who's Bret Vandergard-CB;Gym Rat-CB;Repairman-CB;S.Mastroani-TPG;V.Stevenson-TPG