SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

[PointGuard]

Long Beach State 49ers (8-9, 3-3, 4th place tie) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (11-6, 5-1, 1st place)

Zahara Carter, Assistant (sports administration)

The game was close for 10 minutes during which there were 6 lead changes. But Cal Poly clamped down defensively and drew away the rest of the first half to take a 39-26 halftime lead. The Mustangs’ superiority on the boards and far better shooting led to Cal Poly steadily expanding their lead throughout the entire 2nd half. The Mustangs whipped the 49ers 79-50.

C Calvis Barnes hit for 15 points plus pulled down 7 rebounds. SG Nikolos Ivelitsch had 12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. SF Eddie Erskin scored 11 points and had 3 rebounds. PG Danny Preston had 9 points, 7 assists, and 2 steals. PF Brandon Bailey scored 8 points and hauled down 4 boards.

PG Scotty Lee left the game due to a strained abdominal.

[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs (12-6, 6-1, 1st place) @ UC Riverside Highlanders (8-10, 4-3, 3rd place tie)

Omari Aura, 3rd Assistant Coach (player development/practice)

Another game where our defense shone. We shut down the Highlanders in the first half. Offensively, we ran our sets well and used that to build a 37-23 halftime lead. But we stumbled offensively in the 2nd half. We had trouble getting clear shots and our guys were firing up some shots that had little chance of going through the hoop…and they didn’t. Our defense continued to be good but our inability to score let UC Riverside slowly erode some of our lead. But they were unable to generate enough offense to put a scare into us. We won 61-53. Both teams hit less than 40% of their FG’s and less than 20% of their 3’s. We controlled the boards (+7).

SG Nikolos Ivelitsch was our leading scorer with 14 points plus he had 4 rebounds and 2 assists. SF Eddie Erskin continued his recent strong play, scoring 12 and grabbing 7 rebounds, dishing out 2 assists, and making 2 steals. PG Danny Preston had 10 points, 7 assists, and 2 steals.

[PointGuard]

Bryan King, 1st Assistant Coach (Recruiting)

Finally I can relax. The two recruits who accepted our scholarship offers this fall both got SAT scores that easily exceeded our high requirements. So that means that next year we will gain a 4-star player (PF DJ Morse) and another player (SG Jase Carroll) who is very close to being a 4-star player.

[PointGuard]

UC Irvine Anteaters (12-7, 6-2, 2nd place) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (13-6, 7-1, 1st Place)

Rob Benchley, Athletic Director

I expect this to be a very competitive game. Last year the Anteaters went 22-11 and are on pace to post a similar record this season. They’re riding a 4-game win streak coming into this game. UC Irvine is a high scoring team (75.5 ppg) that hits a very high percentag of their shots (52% of their FG’s and 36% of their 3’s. Their leading scorer is SF James Green (14.9 ppg). The freshman Green is a bit of a surprise as a stud player since he was jus the 842nd highest ranked recruit last year. The Anteaters have 3 interior players averaging in double figures (starters Paul Dye—13.5 ppg and Chad Thompson—10.0 ppg) while reserve Lamont Clark is averaging 14,3 ppg even though he’s playing just an average of 16.8 mpg. So I think our biggest challenge will be for our big guys to keep their big guys from scoring too many points. We need to win this game to maintain sole possession of 1st place in the conference.

An amazing start! We kept UC Irvine from scoring for the first 6-1/2 minutes during which we hit 7 of our 10 shots and scored 19 points. The Anteaters began hitting some of their shots but we still were able to increase our lead at the end of the half to 41-17. Total and complete domination! SF Eddie Erskin led us offensively in the half with 10 points.

The two teams effectively exchanged baskets in the 2nd half and we came away with a surprising 81-55 blowout victory.

SF Eddie Erskin scored 19 points and had 6 boards and 2 steals. SG Damien Harris had 12 points and 2 assists. PG Scotty Lee scored 9 while dishing out 5 assists. SF Louis Taylor scored 9 and had 3 rebounds. C Calvis Barnes also scored 9 plus he had 12 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks.

[PointGuard]

UC Davis Aggies (7-13, 3-6, 8th place tie) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (14-6, 8-1, 1st place)

Al Miller, father-in-law of Coach Fred Aura

Fred, my son-in-law, sings the praises of Aggies’ C Corey Heideman. It’s not just because he’s the best scorer in the conference averaging 20.9 ppg this season (and has been a top scorer his entire 4 years at UC Davis) and because he’s a great inside scoring threat. According to Fred, Heideman wasn’t highly regarded as a HS senior (he was the 674th ranked recruit that year)…but due to a great work ethic and a desire to do his best, Heideman has out-performed what everyone has evaluated as his potential. Now it’s the Mustangs challenge to once again try to shut him down.

Heideman missed his first 2 shots but then canned his next 2. Cal Poly had a couple nice mini-runs to take a couple decent leads but each time let UC Davis get back into the game with bouts of poor shooting and turnovers by the Mustangs. Then with 7 minutes left in the first half, the Aggies took their first lead at 20-19. Cal Poly’s shooting went ever further downhill from thereon and by the end of the half they trailed 34-25. Just one foul was called on the Aggies in the half while 8 were called on the Mustangs. UC Davis outscored Cal Poly 10-0 at the foul line in the half. Corey Heideman scored 13 points. Fred needs to jack up the Mustangs to get them shooting better than the 34% they hit in the first half.

The Mustangs went on a 7-0 run in the first 75 seconds of the 2nd half to get back into the game. Cal Poly then had some trouble scoring but held the Aggies scoreless over the first 5-1/4 minutes of the 2nd half and led 37-34. The teams then exchanged the lead for the next 5 minutes. The Mustangs, led by Ivelitsch and Preston, gained a small lead at that point and held onto it but turnovers kept them from gaining a solid advantage. I’m sure Fred will be unhappy with the lack of ball control by his team. The Aggies ran out of gas in the final 2-3 minutes so Cal Poly was able to come away with a 67-60 win. Both teams hit less than 40% of their shots. While the Mustangs out-rebounded the Aggies 46-29, they made 19 turnovers compared to just 11 by UC Davis. Even though the Mustangs outscored the Aggies 42-26 in the 2nd half, it certainly wasn’t an impressive home game against a team near the bottom of the conference standings.

PG Danny Preston had 16 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. SG Nikolos Ivelitsch scored 12 points and also had 3 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. C Calvis Barnes finished with 10 points and 9 rebounds. The Mustangs limited Corey Heideman in the 2nd half to just 4 points so that he finished with 17 points.

[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs (15-6, 9-1, 1st place) @ Cal State Fullerton Titans (5-16, 5-5, 4th place tie)

SG Damien Harris

Another poor shooting game by us (36% on FG’s and 18% on 3’s). But our defense was top-notch as we held the Titans shooting to just 30%. We also totally dominated the boards 45-35. At the half we led 32-22. We held onto a solid lead through the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half, but then let Cal State Fullerton pull within 3 points of us with 8 minutes to go. But we rallied to come away with a 58-47 victory.

All of our starters scored between 7 and 14 points. Our most solid performers were: SG Nikolos Ivelitsch with 14 points, 4 boards, and 4 assists; C Calvis Barnes who had 8 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists; and PF Roland Boykin with 9 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

We’re now 3 games ahead of UC Irvine and Cal State Northridge that are tied for 2nd place in the conference.

[PointGuard]

Janeka Aura

Our younger son Malik started 9 games while the Denver Nuggets’ star SG DeVahn Cross was out due to an injury. Malik played well, averaging 15.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg, and 3.8 apg as a starter. But Cross returned and Malik became a good trading chip. So right before the NBA trade deadline the Nuggets made a trade in which they sent Malik to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks look like they’ll make the playoffs and wanted to make a change in their starting lineup. They liked what they saw of Malik while he was temporarily starting for the Nuggets. So Malik has stepped into the starting lineup for Milwaukee. He likes Milwaukee’s head coach and the Bucks style of play…and he’s definitely excited to finally become a starter in the NBA. He responded by scoring 21 points in his first game for the Bucks last night. Our entire family is happy for Malik, although we’d hoped he would have been traded to one of the California NBA teams so we’d be able to watch more of his games in person.

[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs (16-6, 10-1, 1st place) @ Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (5-17, 3-8, 8th place tie)

Omari Aura, 3rd Assistant Coach (player development/practice)

Yet another lackluster performance against one of the weaker teams in the conference. We led early in the game, but then Hawaii pulled ahead with 13 minutes remaining in the first half and went on to build a 32-22 halftime advantage. The Rainbow Warriors continued to top us in the 2nd half until we finally overtook them with just 2 minutes to go. We barely escaped the islands with a slim 68-66 win.

PG Danny Preston topped our scoring with 15 points and he also had 5 rebounds and 5 assists. SG Nikolos Ivelitsch and C Estell Luton both scored 14 points with Ivelitsch recording 5 rebounds and Luton having 4 boards.

[PointGuard]

The Jamie Monroe Big West Review

Cal Poly recently has been playing just well enough to win but continues to dominate in the Big West standings at 11-1. Cal State Northridge and UC Irvine are tied for 2nd place but 3 games back and Long Beach State is alone in 4th place, 4 game behind the Mustangs. Those 4 teams are the only teams in the conference that presently have win streaks. Cal Poly has won 8 in a row, Cal State Northridge has a 4-game win streak, UC Irvine has won their last 2 games, and Long Beach State has a 3-game win streak. Cal Poly’s NET Rank is 26th best and UC Irvine has the 81st best NET Rank. The other 9 teams in the Big West have NET Ranks between 180 and 355.

The top scorers in the Big West are Corey Heideman (UC Davis)—19.9 ppg and Mike Forrest (Cal St. Northridge)—18.9 ppg. Flye DeSantis of UC Irvine is tops in assist with 6.5 apg and DeMarlo Robins of Cal St. Bakersfield is the leading rebounder at 8.6 rpg.

Corey Heideman has been the conference Player of the Week 5 times while James Green of UC Irvine has been names the Freshman Player of the Week 5 times.

The highest scoring team in the Big West conference is Cal State Bakersfield which is averaging 74.5 ppg. The best defensive team thus far is Cal Poly which has given up just 65.1 ppg.

Wildest Game: Cal State Fullerton and Hawaii slugged it out to a 132-128 win by Hawaii. OK, yeah, it wasn’t concluded within 40 minutes of play. The teams were tied at 74-74 when the buzzer ended the 2nd half. The game then went on to 4 overtimes with Hawaii finally outscoring the Titans 58-54 throughout the 4 OT periods. The teams were putting so many balls through the hoops during the 4 OT's that the nets nearly spontaneously combusted. SG Kris Howard scored 31 points for Hawaii while SG Gerald Vidoni of Cal State Fullerton led all scorers with 35 points. The Titans had 5 players foul out and Hawaii had 2 players foul out. Hawaii got to the line 54 times and made 36 points at the foul line.

[PointGuard]

Cal State Northridge Matadors (11-12, 8-4, 2nd place tie) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (17-6, 11-1, 1st place)

Mustang News

MUSTANGS REMAIN HOT

Last night the Mustangs won their 9th game in a row by whipping the Cal State Northridge Matadors by a score of 80-62. The game was close throughout the first half with 7 lead changes, but Cal Poly managed to take a 32-26 lead at the end of the first half. The Mustangs offense came alive in the 2nd half and with 15 minutes remaining in the game, Cal Poly’s lead blossomed to 20 points and they held onto that big lead all the way to the end of the game. The Mustangs dominated the team stats.

SG Nikolos Ivelitsch scored 16 and had 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. C Calvis Barnes hit for 15 points and he hauled down 5 rebounds. PF Rodney Boykin had a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards.