{"id":157870,"date":"2026-01-31T09:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T09:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/157870\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T09:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T09:23:10","slug":"troy-plumtrees-31-points-lead-cal-poly-past-csu-bakersfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/157870\/","title":{"rendered":"Troy Plumtree&#8217;s 31 Points Lead Cal Poly past CSU Bakersfield"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Desperately needing a win to regain momentum in the Big West playoff picture, Cal Poly Men\u2019s Basketball took out their frustrations against CSU Bakersfield on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>The Mustangs (8-14, 4-6 Big West) took an early lead and buried the Roadrunners (8-14, 2-8 Big West) 104-79, behind <a href=\"https:\/\/gopoly.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/troy-plumtree\/10279\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Troy Plumtree<\/a>\u2019s 31 points off the bench.<\/p>\n<p>Cal Poly took a back and forth battle through the first ten minutes and dominated the last 30 minutes of the contest.<\/p>\n<p>After a loss last Saturday to Fullerton, head coach Mike DeGeorge said that when teams start losing they either lose confidence or try to be the solution themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/mustangnews.net\/big-west-play-continues-to-prove-difficult-as-cal-poly-mens-basketball-falls-to-fullerton\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cBig West play continues to prove difficult as Cal Poly Men\u2019s Basketball falls to Fullerton\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Against Bakersfield the team was confident and accurate. The Mustangs shot 55% from the floor and went a program best 20-20 from the free throw line. Strong defense turned to easy offense as ten steals turned into 23 points the other way.<\/p>\n<p>No one tried to do it all by themselves either, with a season high 24 assists dished out as a team.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mustangnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/5S6A6859-1-scaled.jpg?ssl=1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"780\" height=\"520\" data-attachment-id=\"287753\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/mustangnews.net\/cal-poly-basketball-win-bakersfield\/5s6a6859-3\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mustangnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/5S6A6859-1-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2560,1706\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.8&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS R6m2&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1765031693&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;70&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;4000&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.000625&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"5S6A6859\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Sophomore guard Cayden Ward has taken strides in his second year as a Mustang, sitting second on the team in points per game.&lt;\/p&gt;&#10;\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mustangnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/5S6A6859-1-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mustangnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/5S6A6859-1-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/5S6A6859-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-287753\"  \/><\/a>Sophomore guard Cayden Ward has taken strides in his second year as a Mustang, sitting second on the team in points per game. Credit: L\u00e9a Bourges-Sevenier \/ Mustang News<\/p>\n<p>Sophomores <a href=\"https:\/\/gopoly.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/peter-bandelj\/10265\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Peter Bandelj<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/gopoly.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/cayden-ward\/10272\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cayden Ward<\/a> have each taken massive strides in their playmaking abilities. Accurate passes out of the pick and roll have become more commonplace as the offense finds its rhythm after a midseason slump.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Almost everybody got in on the scoring action. The Mustangs, who have had issues with bench scoring all season long, had 63 of their 104 points come from the reserves on Thursday. Along with Plumtree\u2019s 31, <a href=\"https:\/\/gopoly.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/jackson-mosley\/10268\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jackson Mosley<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/gopoly.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/aaron-price-jr\/10269\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Aaron Price Jr.<\/a> each had double digit scoring.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/gopoly.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/hamad-mousa\/10277\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hamad Mousa<\/a>, Ward and Bandelj all scored less than their season averages, but when you get that much contribution from your bench, those off nights won\u2019t sink the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Cal Poly has a chance to end the month on a high note as they head to UC Riverside, on Saturday, Jan. 31 at 2 p.m. to face the Highlanders. Last time Cal Poly played against the Highlanders they fell 88-84 at Mott Athletic Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Desperately needing a win to regain momentum in the Big West playoff picture, Cal Poly Men\u2019s Basketball took&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[77074,151,153,152,4365,63152,55582,23314,71848,63153,77075,63154,62708,76463],"class_list":["post-157870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-aaron-price-jr","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-big-west","tag-cal-poly-mens-basketball","tag-cayden-ward","tag-csu-bakersfield","tag-csu-fullerton","tag-hamad-mousa","tag-jackson-mosley","tag-mike-degeorge","tag-peter-bandelj","tag-troy-plumtree"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}