March Madness comes to Big West Tournament as Cal Poly snaps 18-game losing streak on first day

HENDERSON, Nev. - Junior forward Brantly Stevenson led four Mustangs in double-digit scoring figures with 28 points Tuesday evening as the 10th-seeded Cal Poly men's basketball program advanced to the Big West Championships quarterfinals for the second time in three years with an 88-68 opening-round victory against No. 7 Long Beach State inside the Dollar Loan Center.

Graduate guard Nick Fleming finished with 16 points – his highest total in 32 games as a Mustang – as Cal Poly moved on to face No. 2 UC Santa Barbara on Thursday, March 9 in a 6 p.m. quarterfinal matchup.

Trailing Long Beach State (17-16) by five at halftime, Cal Poly (8-24) – which snapped an 18-game slide and prevailed for the first time since Dec. 29 – opened the second period with a 23-8 run, shot 63.0 (17-for-27) percent from the floor during the second half, knocked down six of nine second-half three-point attempts and led by double digits for the final 11 minutes.

Having lost both regular season matchups to Long Beach State by an average of 18.5 points per defeat, Cal Poly also broke a six-game overall slide to The Beach dating to the 2019-20 season.

Averaging 60.1 points per game entering Tuesday's matchup, Cal Poly's 88-point output was its highest against a Division I opponent this season.

Facing Long Beach State for the first time in the Big West Championships in 13 years, Cal Poly secured its first postseason win against The Beach in three all-time attempts.

Keyed by three three-pointers and a layup from Stevenson inside the opening five minutes of action Tuesday, Cal Poly leapt out to an early 15-10 lead.

Cal Poly, however, was kept to just two layups during an ensuing eight-minute span with Long Beach State's resulting 14-4 run helping The Beach carve out a five-point lead seven-and-a-half minutes before the break.

A dunk from junior center Bryan Penn-Johnson, a Fleming three-pointer and a Stevenson jumper afforded Cal Poly a 26-25 lead with five minutes to play in the half. Long Beach State though closed the opening half with a 15-9 run to take a 40-35 lead into the break.

Cal Poly, however, kept Long Beach State to a 2-for-10 shooting start to begin the second half and surged into a 52-45 lead with 12-and-a-half minutes to go.

(Article courtesy of Cal Poly Athletics)