SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

[PointGuard]

Award

Don Seals was named the Big West Conference Player of the Week.

Janeka Aura

Malik scored 27 and 21 points in his last 2 games for Georgetown. He hit 20 of 32 of his FG attempts and had 10 rebounds and 7 assists in those 2 games. He’s now scored over 20 points in 4 of the Hoyas 8 games this season. He’s averaging 18.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg, and 2.8 apg.

Omari remains on the Indiana Pacers roster. He’s subbed at SF in all their games thus far, but is not yet playing too much (6 mpg). He’ averaging 1.8 ppg and 1.5 rpg. He’s enjoying himself but said the travel is tough at times. When the Pacers are home, he’s sharing an apartment with another player on the team.

Both of our boys have girlfriends, but they don’t seem very serious. They’re both focusing on their basketball.

[PointGuard]

Fresno State Bulldogs (3-4) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (5-2)

Coach Fred Aura

Fresno State’s players hit a high percentage of their shots, but they’re not a high scoring team. I think it’s because they’ve not asserted themselves on the boards plus they have made a lot of turnovers. Our challenge will be to control the boards, force mistakes, and keep them from getting clear shots. But the Bulldogs are a tough opponent for us. All of their starters have shown they can have a big game.

We got off to a good start by playing solid defense and clearing the glass…and led 15-5 after 7-1/2 minutes of play. By the midpoint of the first half we were on top 25-8. The Bulldogs then began connecting from beyond the arc to cut into our lead, but we then clamped down again defensively to end the half ahead 39-28. SF Charles Gordon had 11 points and 4 rebounds at that point.

The Bulldogs scored the first 9 points of the 2nd half to get within 2 points. We scored the next 6 points but were unable to sustain the effort and Fresno State took a 57-50 lead midway through the half since we were having a tough time knocking down our shots and also making far too many turnovers. With ice-cold shooting we fell behind by 11 points. We tried to make a comeback but came up short and suffered a disappointing 69-63 loss at home.

SF Charles Gordon scored 13, C Don Seals had 11 points and 8 boards, and SG Victor Collins scored 10.

[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs (5-3) @ La Salle Explorers (9-0)

Kevin Alexander, father of Terrell Alexander

Cal Poly finally has a game near where I now live. When Terrell was in high school, I was a manager at a casino in Carson City, Nevada. I got a fantastic offer for a great position with a much more prestigious casino in Atlantic City. I told my wife Marcie that we needed to move. For some reason she was totally unwilling to move to New Jersey. Since Terrell had just graduated all our kids had flown the nest. No better time to move. She was adamant. I told her there was no way I was going to miss out on this opportunity. So I left and she stayed. We’re now divorced, but our final years of marriage weren’t all that great anyway. And the job’s good, the money is fantastic, the perks are amazing. And I’ve found that there are a lot of great looking ladies who like spending time with someone in my position.

As for “T”, which is what I call Terrell…he’s always been a great basketball player. I’ve thought all along he has the ability to make it to the NBA. I wanted him to go to a basketball powerhouse where he’d get seen regularly by pro scouts. But his high school girl friend was going to Cal Poly and no matter what I told him, he was dead set on following her there. I squeezed some of the alumni to at least anti up for him to go there (Haha…that’s one the NCAA didn’t discover). The head coach at the time also PROMISED that T would be a starter. Things came crashing down when the NCAA came down on Cal Poly for recruiting irregularities. And the head coach was fired. This new coach the school hired might have a good history…but…he didn’t and hasn’t fulfilled the PROMISE given to T and me. Lord knows I’ve tried a number of ways (which I won’t divulge here) to get the coach to make T a starter. But he’s held fast. T actually played very little as a freshman last year. While he’s getting more minutes this season, he’s still not starting. That’s certainly not going to look good to the pros. Even though T’s not starting, he’s still the 3rd best scorer on the team, presently averaging 10.4 ppg and he scored 22 points in one game. That’s because he’s the best shooter on the team. T’s not happy about it…he wants to be a starter also. Because of that, his relationship with the coach isn’t all that great. I’ve been trying to talk T into transferring, but that damned girl is still going to school there. I even tried to get her to think about transferring. I still want T to move on, preferably to a good basketball program somewhere near New York City where he’d get lots of visibility and publicity. Because of whom I work for, I have some good contacts in the area that would help facilitate that. I’m telling T that he really needs to make the move after this season.

With Cal Poly playing here in Philly tonight, I hope T gets a lot of playing time and has a really big game. Unfortunately, La Salle is playing great this year with a helluva strong defense that’s allowed opponents just 56.9 ppg (8th best in the nation). T’s coach better figure out a way to break the Explorers’ D. Well, it’s game time so let’s see how it goes.

The Mustangs turned the ball over the first 2 times they got their hands on it…Put T in the game, coach!! T finally did get into the game at the first media timeout, but by then LaSalle was ahead 9-4. The coach needs to run some plays thru T. Too damned may turnovers by the Mustangs led to their trailing 22-11 midway through the half. The first half finally mercifully ended. LaSalle whipped the Mustangs throughout the entire half and led 48-25. T got to play a lot, but they just didn’t run plays through him. In fact he only could get off one shot, but he did get a couple rebounds and a steal. Instead they let Aki Mosley loft up shot after shot and he missed them all.

Victor Carson who starts at SG picked up his 3rd foul early in the 2nd half. I guess I should be upset, but that means T got to come in early. Put some points on the board, T !!! A couple minutes later the refs called the 3rd foul on T. I let ‘em have it. The Mustangs coach finally took Mosley out of the game. That brought T back into he game. He got free and hit a nice jumper modway through the half to cut the Explorers’ lead to 30 points. A minute later he dropped in another nice looking 16 foot jump shot. That began a run that cut the lead to 20 with 6 minutes to go. T knocked down another shot to finish with 6 points before fouling out with just over a minute to play. The game ended with Cal Poly on the short end of an 85-55 score.

The only member of the Mustangs to score in double figures was C Don Seals who had 21 points. Man, that was a poor showing by Cal Poly. T really does need to transfer to a decent program. I’m going to amp up my campaign.

[PointGuard]

Mustang News

BIG WEST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL PLAY BEGINS

Cal Poly’s basketball team completed pre-conference play this week with a 5-4 record and now moves on to take on Big West Conference opponents. Their first conference play is Monday when they travel to take on the UC Davis Aggies.

The Mustangs have been picked to finish in the middle of the conference standings. Thus far this season they’re averaging 72 ppg while giving up 73.7 ppg. Coach Aura has played most games relying almost exclusively on the 7 scholarship players who are on his roster with a few of the walk-on players getting just minimal playing time.

C Don Seals, who transferred from Jacksonville, is the Mustangs’ leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 17.4 ppg and 6.6 rpg. Another transfer player, SF Charles Gordon is averaging 11.9 ppg and 5.9 rpg. Gordon transferred from Louisiana-Lafayette. Guards Terrell Alexander, Victor Carson, and Aki Mosley (all of whom played for Cal Poly last season) are averaging 9.9 ppg, 9.4 ppg, and 8.8 ppg, respectively. Mosley tops the team in assists with 4.8 apg. PF Derrick La Lane (who transferred from Detroit Mercy) is averaging 6.4 ppg and 3.9 rpg and PF/C Curtis Pearson (a transfer player from Texas Southern) is averaging 5.9 ppg and 4.8 rpg.

Coach Fred Aura, who in his first season at Cal Poly last season led the Mustangs to a 15-15 overall record and a 2nd place finish in conference play, said, “This is the first time in my coaching career where I’ve played with such a short bench. But the guys have responded well and played hard even though the extended playing time is a major stressor. Our walk-on players have really worked hard in practice and we’re getting them into games to see who will be able to possibly play more as the season progresses.” When asked how he thought his team would do in the Big West, Coach Aura was non-committal, “Our guys go all out, so we’ll be competitive. We’ll do the best we can in every game and just see how things come out.”

[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs (5-4, 0-0) @ UC Davis Aggies (2-7, 0-0)

San Luis Obispo Tribune

MUSTANGS BUCK AGGIES

Last night the Cal Poly basketball team began Big West Conference play by travelling to take on the UC Davis Aggies.

The Mustangs got off to a good start, jumping out in front and then building a 12 point lead after 7 minutes of play. They continued throughout the half to shut down the Aggies defensively and shoot well. When the first half ended, Cal Poly held a healthy 38-21 advantage.

But it took nearly 4 minutes for the Mustangs to ring up any points in the 2nd half due to repeated turnovers and poor shooting. By that time the Aggies had cut the lead to 9 points. Cal Poly then steadied themselves and gradually pulled away again to lead by 23 with 6-1/2 minutes left in the game. The Mustangs then cruised and held UC Davis off to score a solid 71-56 victory. Cal Poly outshot UC Davis 44% to 37% and dominated on the glass by pulling down 41 rebounds to just 25 by the Aggies.

Leading Cal Poly was C Don Seals who had 14 points and 10 rebounds. PG Aki Mosley also scored 14 while SF Charles Gordon hit for 12 points, PF Curtis Pearson scored 11, and PF Derrick LaLane had 10 points and 8 boards.

The Mustangs return home to take on the UC San Diego Tritons this Friday.

[PointGuard]

UC San Diego Tritons (3-8, 0-2) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (6-4, 1-0)

Zahara Carter, Assistant (sports administration)

There’s a good-sized crowd here tonight, although I think it would be bigger if it were not December 30th. Just too many holiday activities and travel going on this time of year. Attendance is up 15% (over the previous year) thus far for our home games, though, so that’s good. This year Coach Aura and Rob Benchley, our AD, have me focusing on getting local business to support the program and sponsor various activities at games and increase the number of business advertisers. It’s been a tough challenge thus far, but I’m making slow progress. The more we win the easier it will be. So let’s hope for a big win tonight.

The Tritons have lost their last 6 games. I heard from our coaching staff that the Tritons shoot well but have a porous defense which we hope to exploit. UC San Diego has a lot more depth on their roster than we do, so we have to be careful not to have our guys run out of gas.

We started slowly, falling behind 7-2, but then gradually closed the gap and grabbed the lead. We led by as much as 6 points midway through the first half. But the Tritons hit a very high percentage of their shots to again pull ahead and finish the half with a 42-35 lead.

The Tritons continued to knock down their shots and led by 17 with 13 minutes left to play. We then went on a run that cut the lead to 7 with 10 minutes to go. But from there it was all downhill. UC San Diego threw in shots from all over the court and led by as much as 25 points. We cut into the lead some at the end of the game, but still got whipped 88-71. The Tritons hit 58% of their FG’s and 52% of their 3’s. Their two starting guards, Sylvester Spencer and Robert Canal combined to score 40 points.

C Don Seals was again our leading scorer with 25 points with SG Terrell Alexander contributing 11 points.

[PointGuard]

Janeka Aura

Malik played very well in all three games this week. When the Hoyas played St. Johns, he scored 18 points and hit 5 of 9 from 3-point distance. He also had 7 rebounds, 9 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks. Then against Providence he scored 21 points, hitting 7 of 14 of his FG’s and 5 of 8 of his 3’s. And finally against DePaul, he again scored 18 points, hitting 8 of 15 from the field, and had 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and a block. He’s now averaging 18.2 ppg with 4.0 rpg and 3.8 apg in the 12 games Georgetown has played thus far.

Omari sustained a minor injury and has missed the last 4 games that the Indiana Pacers have played. He said he’s hoping to be back on the court for their upcoming game though.

[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs (6-5, 1-1) @ Cal State Northridge Matadors (3-8, 0-2)

Len Moss

I don’t have a dog in this hunt….just came to the game in hopes of seeing some good b-ball. I never attended either of these schools…but then again, I never went to college. Living in the San Fernando Valley, I’m not all that far away from CSU Northridge. I work on a roofing team and since we don’t have that many rainy days, I work my butt off most every day of the year. But I like playing basketball and am part of a 3-on-3 basketball league. I hear Tom Adams, the Matadors’ SG is a helluva player, so I’d love to see him have a big game.

Refs are calling things too close. Let the guys play! Both teams are having a tough time getting things flowing. Both starting centers pick up 2 quick fouls and are now relegated to the bench. That sucks. The Cal Poly coach is riding the refs. The refs seem to have rattled the Mustangs. They trail 18-4 after 9-1/2 minutes of play. This game has been totally ugly…lots of missed shots, turnovers, fouls. Cal Poly looks totally out of sync…they down 33-11 and have just 3 minutes to go in the half. They’re shooting horribly, both from the field and the foul line. After going something like 0 for 10 on their 3 point attempts, they finally hit one with under 2 minutes left before halftime. The buzzer finally sounds ending a horribly played half. With the Mustangs playing so poorly, it’s no wonder the Matadors lead 36-14. I’m now wondering why I even came to this game. I feel like leaving but I paid for my ticket and will just have to hope it turns somewhat into a game in the 2nd half.

Cal Poly shows they’re not totally dead by going on a 18-4 run to begin the 2nd half and cut the lead to 8 points. Primarily it’s due to Don Seals, their C, getting back on the court. I think he scored 13 of those 18 points with some good inside moves and drilling a couple 3’s. With 11 minutes left Seals takes a pass inside, backs up on his defender, fakes to his right and turns and drives to his right to slam it home can cut the lead to 5 at 42-37. The guy’s a beast! With 10 minutes to go, Seals is dragging and heads to the bench for a breather…not a good sign for Poly. I think they need that guy out there to have a chance to win. But then their SF, Charles Gordon nails a long 3 and it’s 45-42. This game is actually getting exciting! Northridge hits a shot, but I think the Matadors are shaking in their boots…and they show that by fouling on a 3-point attempt on the following possession by Cal Poly. Curtis Pearson sinks all 3 free throws and it’s now a 2-point difference. Northridge misses a shot. The Mustangs miss a 3 but grab an offensive rebound and get it to their PG who puts up a short jumper that misses, but he’s fouled on the shot. He misses both shots keeping them from tying the game. The Matadors go on a mini-run that ups their advantage to 6 points with 6 minutes to play. Cal Poly tries to come back, but they’re gassed and go down in flames, losing 70-55.

SG Tom Adams scored 15 for CSU Northridge, but wasn’t at all impressive. The Matador’s PG Todd Wise shot well and scored 17. For Cal Poly, C Don Seals, after playing just 5 minutes in the first half, played 15 minutes in the 2nd half and finished with 19 points and had 3 steals and 2 blocks. PF Curtis Pearson had 11 points and 8 boards. SF Charles Gordon scored 10 and had 6 rebounds.

[PointGuard]

Long Beach State 49ers (7-6, 2-2) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (6-6, 1-2)

Rob Benchley, Athletic Director

The 49ers record isn’t impressive, but they played a much stronger pre-conference schedule than we did. We’re looking to be pretty much a .500 team, but that’s probably better than should be expected when over half of our roster is made up of walk-ons. Aki Mosley had another scoreless game against Cal State Northridge earlier this week. He’s really been running hot and cold this season. We still haven’t figured out why this is happening after playing much better as a freshman last season. Vince Carson is dong pretty much the same thing, but that’s consistent with how he was for us last year. If those two guys would consistently put points on the board for us, I think we’d be doing much better.

Good start. Alexander stole the ball, got it up court to Gordon who layed it in and was fouled and completed the 3 point play. Then Pearson picked off a pass on the 49ers next possession and made a nice outlet pass to Mosley for another layin…5-0. We scored 9 before the Beach got on the board. Then both teams continued play without any stops until the 12:17 mark when the first media time out finally was able to be taken. We led 24-11 at that point, having hit 10 of 13 shots from the field. Charles Gordon already had 9 points. Our crowd was really into the game. By the midpoint of the half we led 32-13. We continued to outplay Long Beach St. and finished the half with a big 54-28 lead. Gordon and Mosley had 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Don Seals hit a 3 to put us ahead by 30 just 3 minutes into the 2nd half. Both teams then went into a 7 minute cold spell. Although we hit some shots, we continued to play without focus and let the 49ers cut into our lead, but never closer than the final score of 85-67.

All 5 of our starters scored in double figures: PG Aki Mosley and C Don Seals both dropped in 17 points, SF Charles Gordon had 16 points, and SG Terrell Alexander and PF Curtis Pearson both had 10 points. Gordon led our rebounding with 9 boards and Mosley had 7 assists. Long Beach State’s Tahj Watkins scored 27 points.

Our 2-2 record puts us into a 4-way tie for 4th place in the Big West, 1-1/2 games behind first place UC Irvine.

[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs (7-6, 2-2) @ UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (8-6, 3-1)

SG Vince Carson

The Gauchos are a very good team and we’re big underdogs. So we’re going to have to play really well if we’re to have a chance of beating them on their home court. It would be great if we could play like we did in the first half against Long Beach State earlier this week.

We nipped at the Gauchos heels the entire first half but could never grasp the lead. Then they hit a series of 3’s late in the half that gave them a 44-35 halftime advantage. Coach Aura got on us about our defense since we let UC Santa Barbara hit 55% of their FG’s and 43% of their 3’s.

We clamped down defensively early in the 2nd half but then it fell apart and the Gauchos spurted from a 5 point lead to 53-41 with 15 minutes to go. Coach Aura got on us during the ensuing media time out. While that got our defense nailed down, our offense sputtered with a combination of turnovers and poor shooting. So the best we could do was to very slowly cut into the lead. With 4 minutes to go it was 66-60, but allof our main 7 guys were dragging. I think Coach Aura wanted to apply a full court press but he knew we just didn’t have the legs to do it. We just didn’t have the gas and fell hard, losing 76-63.

SF Charles Gordon tossed in 16 points and pulled down 9 rebounds, PF Curtis Pearson had 11 points and 6 boards, and C Don Seals scored 10. Offensively I sucked (just 2 points), but I grabbed 9 boards and had 5 assists. SG Myron Lenzly scorched us for 22 points plus he had 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals.

Even though we lost, Coach Aura gave us all pats on our backs for solid defense in the 2nd half, being +10 for rebounds, and giving our all to try to catch the Gauchos on their court. But the loss dropped us to 8th place in the Big West and we have our next game is on the road again and this time against 1st place UC Irvine.