LONG BEACH – Sophomore guard Hamad Mousa finished with a team leading 19 points and junior guard Jake Davis (above) enjoyed a career high 15 Saturday evening, but the Cal Poly men’s basketball program sustained a 74-68 setback at Long Beach State.
Mousa also grabbed a team high eight rebounds for Cal Poly (6-10, 2-2), which led just once (by a single point) and was kept to a 33.9 (19-for-56) percent field goal mark. Meanwhile, Long Beach State (5-10, 1-2) – which led by as much as 25 points in the second half before Cal Poly cut the gap to 11 with four minutes to go – finished with a 50.0 (29-for-58) percent mark.
Held to a 5-for-17 shooting start, Cal Poly trailed 23-17 seven-and-a-half minutes before the break. The Mustangs though received a pair of free throws from freshman forward Ali Assran before Davis knocked down his second three-pointer of the night to cut the gap to one.
Cal Poly, however, kept without a field goal the remainder of the half as Long Beach State – shooting 53.3 (16-for-30) percent in the opening period – took a 38-26 lead into the locker room.