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[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs (2-1) @ Texas Longhorns (0-3)

Cal Poly Mustangs Sports Message Board

PF Curtis Pearson got to the line 6 times in the first minute and 41 seconds, making all 6 shots to put us ahead 8-2. The Mustangs held onto a small lead until the Longhorns edged ahead with 4 minutes remaining in the half. The lead flip-flopped for the next 2 minutes but then Cal Poly hit a series of shots down to take a 43-36 halftime advantage. Don Seals and Curtis Pearson scored 13 and 10 points, respectively in the half as the Mustangs outplayed Texas in all respects other than rebounding.

Texas came out in the 2nd half with guns blazing and streaked to a 52-46 lead with 14 minutes remaining. The Mustangs slowly clawed their way back to achieve a 57-57 tie with 8 minutes to go. Cal Poly’s offense then went ice-cold allowing Texas to go ahead 70-60. The Mustangs hit three triples down the stretch but simply ran out of time and lost 72-69.

C Don Seals led all scorers with 23 points with PF Curtis Pearson hitting for 16 points and C Victor Collier adding 10 points and 7 rebounds. But Cal Poly’s starting guards, Aki Mosley and Terrell Alexander were both held scoreless.

Coach Fred Aura said, “That 6 minute power outage by us spelled our defeat. But overall I was pleased with our play on the road against a Big Twelve opponent. Our interior players played extremely well.”

The Mustangs return home to take on the Charleston Cougars on Monday. Mustang fans…come out and support your team.

[PointGuard]

Charleston Cougars (2-1) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (2-2)

Jack Stevens, neighbor of the Aura’s

I decided I’d better get to a home game for the Mustangs so that when I get together with our neighbors I’ll be able to talk somewhat intelligently about Fred’s team. Most of the team played last season so I at least know their names and have seen them play before. Thus far this season, the interior players have carried the Mustangs and the perimeter players have surprisingly provided little offense. Fred told me that it’s just a slow start for those players and that they will get it together soon. Maybe this will be the night they start doing that.

Mosley scored 9 points in the first 4-1/2 minutes so that’s a good sign. After a strong start, the Mustangs let the Cougars get back into the game and take a 2 point lead with 4 minutes left in the half. But Cal Poly came back to go ahead 41-36 at the break. Guards Mosley, Alexander, and Taylor along with SF Lawson combined to score 26 points in the first half.

It took the Mustangs 4-1/2 minutes to get on the scoreboard in the 2nd half. The interior players (Seals, Pearson and LaLane) then took over to provide Cal Poly’s offense and put them back on top. But all the calls by refs were going against the Mustangs and Charleston tied the game at 55-55 with 6 minutes to play. With just 2 minutes to go, the Cougars got to the line to tie the game again at 60-60. Derrick LaLane took a pass at the side of the key, backed his way toward the basket, turned to his left and put up a shot that went down to make it 62-60. Yet another foul put the Cougars on the line again for 2 shots as Bryan Taylor fouled out. Our home crowd rained vociferous boos on the refs and they yelled, whistled, and stomped to distract Charleston’s shooter. But he was unfazed and nailed both shots to again tie the game with 1:12 to go. Following another timeout by Cal Poly, Aki Mosley took a pass and zoomed toward the basket and dropped in an underhanded shot with just under a minute remaining. A Charleston player was finally called for an offensive charge and the Mustangs got the ball back with 54 seconds to go. The Cougars picked off a pass from Terrell Alexander, called a time out and hit a 3 to put them on top by a single point. Curtis Pearson was fouled with 27 seconds left, putting him on the line for a one-and-one. He hit the first but the second shot rimmed out and Charleston got it up court quickly and hit a jumper to go ahead by 2 with 18 seconds left. Another time out by the Mustangs set up their final shot. But Alexander’s shot was tipped away and the Mustangs left the court with a 67-65 homecourt loss. The fans took out their displeasure on the officials who had put Charleston on the line 11 more times than the Mustangs.

C Don Seals had 17 points and 7 rebounds, PF Derrick LaLane scored 13, and PG Aki Mosley added 11
points.

[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs (2-3) @ UCONN Huskies (2-1)

Rashon Richardson, 3rd Assistant Coach (scouting)

Tough team to play on their court, but it’s a good experience for our guys since the Huskies’ crowd is big, loud and boisterous. If we’re fortunate to get into a post-season tournament, having played teams like Texas and UCONN in front of their crowds will help prepare our guys for tournament crowds. Obviously we’re big underdogs against UCONN. They’re getting good scoring from their entire starting 5. SF Sean Gains (15.3 ppg), SG Eddie Belton (12.7 ppg), and PF Bart Rush (14.3 ppg), in particular, are going to be tough to stop.

We started out well, keeping up with the Huskies, but after 8 minutes of play we trailed 19-9. Bart Rush was killing us. Things went from bad to worse after that. By the end of the half, we were on the very short end of a 48-24 score. UCONN’s Bart Rush scored 18 points, hitting 6 of 7 from the field including 4 of 5 on threes. Coach Aura stressed the importance of keeping control of the ball (we had 12 turnovers in the first half) and that instead of trying to get back into the game quickly, to just work at steadily chipping away at reducing the Huskies lead in the 2nd half.

We scored the first 13 points of the 2nd half. We were still far back trailing by 11 but it looked far brighter for us than the 24 point deficit we were stuck with coming into the 2nd half. We continued trimming the Huskies’ lead and with 14-1/2 minutes it was down to 6 points. A minute later Don Seals hit a shot and converted the resulting free throw to make it 51-48. Then put back up and in a rebound to cut the lead to 57-56 with 8:46 to go. Then neither team scored for the next 2 minutes until Derrick LaLane put in a shot off the backboard to put us ahead by a point. We’d outscored the Huskies 34-9 in the 2nd half at that point. UCONN hit a 3, but Edouard La Touche dropped in a 3 on our next possession. The Huskies got back on track to go up 67-63 with 2 minutes remaining. Terrell Alexander hit a 14 footer from behind a screen to get us within 2 with 1-1/2 minutes left. We set up a play during a timeout to isolate Don Seals…Mosley got him the ball but he was fouled on the shot. He went to the line and sunk both free throws to tie the game at 67-67 with 54 seconds on the clock. Terrell Alexander blocked the Huskies shot and Aki Mosley grabbed the ball. Richard Lawson put up a shot near the foul line with 26 seconds to go. The shot missed but he was fouled on the shot. He missed both shots, but we rebounded UCONN’s missed shot with just 7 seconds to go. We called a time out to set up a play but the refs call Aki Mosley for a charge. UCONN didn’t have enough time left to get off a shot and we went to overtime.

We fell behind by 3 with 1-1/2 minutes to go but Don Seals took care of the deficit by hitting a 3. But the Huskies hit the final 2 baskets in the OT to knock us off 76-72. We put together one helluva comeback effort, though.

C Don Seals scored 17 and had 6 rebounds and PG Aki Mosley had 14 points, 5 rebouinds, 3 assists, and a steal.

[PointGuard]

Bryan King, 1st Assistant Coach (recruiting)

We still have 3 players who have committed to us and 5 scholarship offers hanging out there. 2 of those offers are to international players for whom we are keeping in contact but aren’t spending the big bucks to scout or have them come to our campus. 2 of the other 3 offers are to players in our region. We also have quite a few recruits on our call and watch lists, but we’re trying to conserve enough money to be able to go all out in March and April. So most of our weekly effort is devoted to just making contact.

[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs (2-4) @ UNLV Runnin’ Rebels (2-3)

Rob Benchley, Athletic Director

I love going to Las Vegas. Do a little gambling, have some great meals, go to a show or two…and oh yeah, watch the Mustangs.

We’ve lost 3 games in a row, but those losses were by 3 points, 2 points, and then 4 points in OT. The Runnin’ Rebels haven’t been scoring much but their defense has been awesome. A big challenge tonight will be trying to control UNLV’s C Terrell Trask. He’s hitting 63% of his shots from the field and averaging 13.8 ppg, but more impressively he’s pulling down 11.0 rpg. We need to force him out of the paint. On offense, we need our perimeter players to begin producing. None of them are shooting very well this season so far.

We held our own early but then couldn’t buy a basket during the middle portion of the first half. UNLV went ahead by 11 points, but we closed most of the gap late in the half, trailing 33-30 at halftime. That was surprising since we were outshot 52% to 35%. The Runnin’ Rebels C Terrell Trask scored 8 points. PG Aki Mosley hit for 10 points for us.

In the 2nd half a slow start put us behind 47-36 with 15 minutes to play. We kept making runs and would nearly catch up, but didn’t. We ended up losing another close one, this time by a score of 69-64.

C Don Seals tossed in 15 points while grabbing 7 rebounds. PG Aki Mosley had 12 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. PF Curtis Pearson scored 11 points.

[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs (2-5) @ Richmond Spiders (4-4)

San Luis Obispo Tribune

THREE'S REIGN

Last night the Cal Poly Mustangs broke their 3-game losing streak by besting the Richmond Spiders 92-86. The Mustangs led most of the game and as the Spiders cut into their lead in the waning moments of the game, Cal Poly simply refused to give up their lead.

The game was a showcase for 3-point shooting. The Mustangs hit 19 of 36 and Richmond put in 15 of 35 from beyond the arc.

PG Aki Mosley scored 23 points and dished out 8 assists. SG Terrell Alexander had 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists. Those 2 starting guards combined to knock down 10 of 17 of their 3 point attempts. SF Donald Brown scored 11 and reserve PG Bryan Taylor added 10.

Coach Fred Aura said, “It’s nice to add one to the win column. Our guys played tough the entire game. Although Richmond continued to challenge, our players fought off each of the Spiders’ runs. It was good to see Aki (Mosley) and Terrell (Alexander) come up big. Those two plus their replacements, Bryan Taylor and Edouard La Touche, combined to score 54 points. Unfortunately, Edouard came out of the game with a sore shoulder that’ll likely to limit his activity for the next 5 days.”

[PointGuard]

Illinois-Chicago Flames (4-4) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (3-5)

Sports News for the 11 pm News on KSBO-CD (San Luis Obispo TV Station):

“After playing 6 of their first 8 games on the road, the Cal Poly Mustangs played their final pre-conference game for this season on their home court earlier tonight.

But home-cooking wasn’t all that tasty. That’s because Illinois-Chicago showed why their offense has been so potent this season. The Mustangs were playing catch-up most of the game. And when Cal Poly did capture the lead, the Flames stuck 3’s to again pull ahead. The Mustangs offense was hot-and-cold the entire game and they had far too many turnovers. The only Cal Poly player to score in double figures was SG Terrell Alexander who had 16 points. The result was an 81-74 loss to Illinois-Chicago.

The Mustangs will enter Big West play with a 3-6 record and have yet to shown the ability to play well consistently.”

[PointGuard]

KXTA Radio—sports radio

This is "Rad Brad" Ventura talking sports with you on KXTA Sports Radio. The Cal Poly Mustangs begin conference play in a few days. So, with pre-conference play complete, I thought it was time to review what they’ve done this season so far.

The Mustangs were pretty successful last season, posting a 26-7 record. Their record was good enough that, even though they didn’t win the Big West Tourney, they got selected to play in the NCAA Tournament and did d surprisingly well there. With almost all their players returning, expectations were high for what they’d do this season.

But after posting a dismal 3 wins against 6 losses in pre-conference play, those hopes have been shattered. The question remains if they’re good enough to do more that finish in the middle of the pack in Big West play. So let’s look at what they’ve done thus far and what the prognosis is for the future.

As I said, everyone thought the whole roster from last season was returning. But that expectation was quickly dashed when 2 of their SG’s decided to look for greener pastures and transferred. The staff replaced them with a guard and big man who appeared would be even better than the players they lost. All the coaches needed to do was meld them into the rest of the team and get them familiar with the sets Coach Aura normally uses.

Then In October, Donald Brown, one of the Mustangs’ starters last season, missed more than 80% of the team’s pre-season practice due to undisclosed family issues. While Brown has returned and started, he’s been but a shell of what he was last year. He looks good on the outside but there’s something missing inside. Due to his ineffectiveness, Richard Lawson replaced him in the starting lineup at SF in Cal Poly’s last game.

Coach Aura has acknowledged that the team’s record looks bad, but has said the Mustangs’ pre-conference schedule has been much tougher this year than in previous seasons. He also has mentioned that 2/3 of their games have been on the road and that 5 of their 6 losses have been between 2 and 7 points, including one loss in OT...and that with a little luck some of those losses could easily have been wins. But a disturbing fact is that the team has lost 2 of their 3 home games.

Thus far the strength for the team has been upfront. Coach Aura experimented with which of his 4 primary interior men would start, but seems to have now settled on Don Seals starting at C and Curtis Pearson at PF with Derrick LaLane and Victor Collins gaining a decent amount of playing time to keep fresh legs on the court. The 4 have combined to average 33 ppg and nearly 18 rpg.

The team’s guards, though, have been highly inconsistent. All but reserve Bryan Taylor were hitting a very low percentage of their shots until the last few games when Terrell Alexander seems to have finally caught fire. But highly-experienced Aki Mosley has, except for a few games, shot very poorly, and transfer Edouard La Touche has yet to show he has much of a shooting eye. And on defense, the 4 guards have also been unable to get many steals.

And as I said, Donald Brown has been nearly invisible on the court and a real detriment to the team when he has shot the ball because it seldom has gone through the hoop. Richard Lawson, though, has played well at SF and may have won the starting role for the team.

Leading scorers for the Mustangs have been: Don Seals with 14.4 ppg, Curtis Pearson with 9.9 ppg and Terrell Alexander with 8.7 ppg.

While Cal Poly was unimpressive in pre-conference play, 9 of 11 teams in the Big West had losing records with only UC San Diego sporting a good-looking record at 7-2. But the Tritons played a particularly weak pre-conference schedule. And UC Santa Barbara, the conference’s strongest team in recent years won just 3 of 10 games. But the Gauchos played 8 very strong teams, so don't count them out.

I’m pretty sure that getting to the NCAA Tournament for a Big West team this season will absolutely require winning the conference tournament. There won’t be two Big West teams in the Big Dance. So while it’s been a rocky start for the Mustangs, Coach Aura and his team have to focus on steady improvement so that they peak at the very end of the season.

Cal Poly begins conference play by travelling to take on the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners this Monday. The Roadrunners have a 5-4 record but played a rather easy schedule. They’re again led by SG Larry Fields who, as he did last season, is averaging 19 ppg and 6 rpg. Fields has hit 48% of his FG’s and has knocked down 43% of his 3’s. So the Mustangs need to find a way to stop him or let him do his thing and clamp down on the other 4 Roadrunners on the court.

So, here's my bottom line: If you're a Cal Poly fan, buckle your seat belts because I think it's going to be a bumpy ride as they work their way through their conference schedule over the next 2 months. I'm picking the Mustangs to finish in 3rd or 4th place in the final Big West standings, winning 12 or 13 of their 20 conference games. But if the coaching staff develops the team right and peak late in the season, I think they'll have as good a chance as anyone in the Big West tournament.

[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs (3-6, 0-0) @ Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners (5-4, 0-0)

Jeff Manley, walk-on SG

Bakersfield came out firing and surged to a 14-8 lead. But we scored the next 7 points to take the lead. By the midpoint of the half we were up 28-20 and Don Seals had scored half our points. Two minutes later our lead had grown to 14. The Roadrunners cut into our lead but we still held a solid 47-38 halftime advantage. Larry Fields scored 17 for Bakersfield. Don Seals tossed in 14 for us, but also picked up 3 fouls.

With 10 minutes remaining in the game we were on top 67-56. We expanded our lead to 20 before settling for a 93-76 victory.

C Don Seals led our scoring with 19 points. PG Aki Mosley had a big game with 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists. SG Terrell Alexander tossed in 14 points. CSU Bakersfield’s Larry Fields torched us for 32 points plus she had 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, and 2 blocks.

[PointGuard]

UC Riverside Highlanders (4-6, 1-0) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (4-6, 1-0)

Game Notes by Jose Contreras, Reporter for “Mustang News”

1st Half

15:13—All 5 starters have scored, Mustangs up 12-10.
13:30—Mosley quick pass to Collier 2 feet to left of key. Faked left and nice move to right to get off shot and bounced twice on rim and slid through. Fouled on shot by Mendez, his 2nd sending him to bench. Collier swished foul shot making it 17-13.
11:19—Highlanders’ PG Tart drills 16 footer giving him 10 points and tieing game at 19-19.
9:28—Tart charged with 2nd foul…subbed out.
2:39—After La Touche tipped Highlanders’ pass and recovered the ball, he fired it upcourt to Pearson for driving slam dunk making it 30-27 in favor of Mustangs. 9 points for Pearson.
0:01—Lawson receives pass on right baseline from Mosley and puts it up and over defender…giving Cal Poly 34-29 halftime lead.

2nd Half

17:26—Highlanders’ O’Hanlon sinks his 3rd 3-pointer of game making it 38-35 in favor of Mustangs.
14:51—Neely fouled by Seals and makes both foul shots to put UC Riverside ahead 44-43.
14:06—Collier puts up shot in a lot of traffic just inside foul line and is fouled by Mendez…shot is good but misses free throw…Cal Poly back in lead 45-44.
12:25—Mendez makes 2 free throws…46-45 in favor of UC Riverside.
12:06—LaLane drills a 3 from right corner…Mustangs back on top 48-46.
9:38—Neely drives along baseline, pulls up and hits shot to put Highlanders back on top 53-51.
7:50—Another lead change after Taylor hits a 3…56-55.
6:08—Pearson into double figures on turnaround jumper giving Cal Poly 62-56 lead.
4:23—Highlanders’ Mendez fouls out…but Seals unable to make first shot of 1 & 1….62-58.
3:08—Tart hits 2 free throws giving him 21 points and cutting Mustangs’ lead to 64-63.
2:40—Neely drops in 2 foul shots and UC Riverside back on top 65-64.
2:16—Taylor makes 2 free throws…Cal Poly ahead 66-65. Crowd begins chanting “DE-FENCE!”
1:45—Seals drills a 3—69-65. “DE-FENCE” chant grows.
1:02—Seals takes pass from Mosley and muscles way to basket and puts shup up, over defenders, and in and is fouled…71-65. Misses free throw but Pearson rebounds.
0:57—UC Riverside quickly fouls Pearson before he can work ball around and take time off clock. Pearson sinks both shots…73-65.
0:44—Coach Aura upset by La Touche fouling Tart by reaching in on the dribble…he converts both free throws..73-67. La Touche subbed out and assistant coach talking to him.
0:41—Taylor fouled on inbound pass. Both shots go in…75-67.

Final score: Cal Poly—75, UC Riverside—67.

Mustangs Stats: PF Curtis Pearson—13 pts, 9 reb; C Don Seals—12 pts, 6 reb, 5 ast, 2 blk; C Victor Collier—11 pts; PG/SG Bryan Taylor—10 pts. For UC Riverside: PG Tim Tart—23 pts. Cal Poly bench outscored UC Riverside bench 33-10.