Sixth straight Big West loss for Cal Poly men’s basketball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - Guard Trevon Taylor finished with a team-leading 20 points and fellow senior Alimamy Koroma scored his 1,000th career point Thursday evening, but the Cal Poly men's basketball program dropped a 71-64 decision to UC San Diego inside Mott Athletics Center.
Junior forward Brantly Stevenson added 18 points for Cal Poly (7-12, 1-6), which shot 50 (26-for-52) percent from the floor, sank eight three-pointers and trailed by five at the break before twice taking four-point leads in the second half.
After two Stevenson free throws provided Cal Poly a 62-61 lead with three minutes to play, however, the Mustangs closed the matchup 1-for-5 from the floor.
Cal Poly finished with a season best seven blocks, but committed 16 turnovers to UC San Diego's five in falling to the Tritons for just the second time in 11 all-time meetings and first since Dec. 20, 1969.
Taylor led all players with seven rebounds while graduate guard Nick Fleming and junior guard Kobe Sanders finished with a career high seven assists apiece for Cal Poly.
Koroma reached his 1,000-point milestone with a layup near the 16-minute mark to hand Cal Poly a 39-38 second-half lead. The 25th player in program history with a 1,000 points at Cal Poly, Koroma is also the second Mustang in a span of three games to reach 1,000 career points after graduate guard Chance Hunter achieved the milestone at Long Beach State (Jan. 12).
Cal Poly resumes action on Saturday, Jan. 21, visiting UC Davis for a 3 p.m. matchup on ESPN+.
During Thursday's matchup, UC San Diego scored on its opening two possessions before Cal Poly connected on its initial four three-point attempts to lead 12-8 after five minutes. The Tritons, who shot 51.6 (16-for-31) percent during the first half, then limited Cal Poly to just two jumpers during an ensuing six-minute window to go up, 21-16.
Cal Poly still trailed 28-21 seven minutes before the break before a Taylor layup – one of his seven field goals – kickstarted a 9-2 run. Cal Poly's two-point lead was brief, however, after the Mustangs were kept scoreless during the final 92 seconds of the half.
Cal Poly overturned UC San Diego's 37-32 halftime lead in just four-and-a-half minutes, but stretched the lead to only four points. After a layup from Tritons guard Roddie Anderson III tied the matchup at 48-48 with 12 minutes to play, UC San Diego held Cal Poly to just a Koroma free throw during the next four minutes to take a 57-49 lead.
The Mustangs though scored on three successive possessions to draw within one of UC San Diego with six minutes to play.
(article courtesy of Cal Poly Athletics)
