Photo by: Gabriel L. Acosta
Cal Poly Ends UCR Men's Hoops Season With 66-54 Win In Anaheim
3/8/2012 7:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Anaheim, CA—The 2011-12 UC Riverside Men's Basketball season came to a close Thursday evening at Honda Center in Anaheim, as the Cal Poly Mustangs upended the Highlanders, 66-54 in the first round of the Big West Conference Tournament.
UC Riverside brought a perfect 3-0 mark against the Mustangs in tournament play into the game including an overtime upset of the No. 2 Mustangs a year ago, and it looked early on as if the Highlanders would make it four in a row. UCR led 34-28 at the half thanks to a 51.9 percent shooting effort from the floor and a defensive intensity that limited the Mustangs to 34.6 shooting in the period.
UCR got a big boost from its bench as the Highlanders reserves made six of eight shots in the period, and Robert Smith led UC Riverside at the break with 10 points
But in the second half, both teams did a complete 180. Cal Poly outscored UC Riverside 22-5 to open the period making seven of their first 10 shots while the Highlanders misfired on six of their first seven.
UC Riverside was without two of its post players as Kevin Bradshaw and TJ Burke sat out the game with injuries. That created some mismatches for the Highlanders, particularly on the defensive end as the UCR guards were forced to bang down low with Cal Poly's bigs.
A Chris Eversley three-pointer gave the Mustangs their first double-digit lead at 50-39 with 9:28 on the clock. Cal Poly extended that lead to 12, 58-46, and the Highlanders never got closer than nine the rest of the way.
In the second half UCR made just 33.3 percent of their field goal attempts compared to 50.0 percent for Cal Poly. But the big story in the final 20 minutes of play was in the paint, where the Highlanders gave up 12 offensive rebounds that the Mustangs turned into a 14-3 advantage in second chance points, accounting for almost the entire margin of victory. Cal Poly outrebounded UCR 38-22 overall on the evening.
Martin led the Highlanders with 15 points on the night, and Smith added 10 all of which came in the first half. Amaurys Fermin led all scorers with 16, and he was joined in double digits by David Hanson (12) and Eversley (11).
UC Riverside brought a perfect 3-0 mark against the Mustangs in tournament play into the game including an overtime upset of the No. 2 Mustangs a year ago, and it looked early on as if the Highlanders would make it four in a row. UCR led 34-28 at the half thanks to a 51.9 percent shooting effort from the floor and a defensive intensity that limited the Mustangs to 34.6 shooting in the period.
UCR got a big boost from its bench as the Highlanders reserves made six of eight shots in the period, and Robert Smith led UC Riverside at the break with 10 points
But in the second half, both teams did a complete 180. Cal Poly outscored UC Riverside 22-5 to open the period making seven of their first 10 shots while the Highlanders misfired on six of their first seven.
UC Riverside was without two of its post players as Kevin Bradshaw and TJ Burke sat out the game with injuries. That created some mismatches for the Highlanders, particularly on the defensive end as the UCR guards were forced to bang down low with Cal Poly's bigs.
A Chris Eversley three-pointer gave the Mustangs their first double-digit lead at 50-39 with 9:28 on the clock. Cal Poly extended that lead to 12, 58-46, and the Highlanders never got closer than nine the rest of the way.
In the second half UCR made just 33.3 percent of their field goal attempts compared to 50.0 percent for Cal Poly. But the big story in the final 20 minutes of play was in the paint, where the Highlanders gave up 12 offensive rebounds that the Mustangs turned into a 14-3 advantage in second chance points, accounting for almost the entire margin of victory. Cal Poly outrebounded UCR 38-22 overall on the evening.
Martin led the Highlanders with 15 points on the night, and Smith added 10 all of which came in the first half. Amaurys Fermin led all scorers with 16, and he was joined in double digits by David Hanson (12) and Eversley (11).
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