Mustangs beat Fresno State at home for the first time in over 40 years

Luke Meikle and Taylor Sutlive were each 5-5 from the field and combined for 31 points as Cal Poly held Fresno State to 24 first-half points en route to a 77-65 victory. Meikle averaged 15.5 points off the bench in two home games this week, showing his offensive versatility making outside shots and taking the ball to the basket against bigger opponents.

Sutlive has shown patience throughout the beginning of the season, not forcing shots and taking open looks.

Sutlive was 3-3 from three point range, but head coach Joe Callero was more impressed with Sutlive and the rest of the team’s ability to defend Fresno State and not give up wide open shots like they did on Thursday night against IPFW. Callero said they gave up 20 wide-open looks against IPFW. Fresno State hardly got any.

Cal Poly built their lead over 10 points less than two minutes into the second half. Fresno State cut the lead to eight points at the 14:23 mark of the second half, but an ensuing Sutlive three-pointer pushed it back to 11 and Cal Poly lead by double-digits the rest of the night.

Statland

Cal Poly won despite taking 25 fewer shots than Fresno State — the Bulldogs took 69 shots to Cal Poly’s 44. Cal Poly’s starters were just 4-14 from three-point range, but the bench was a combined 4-8 to help the Mustangs stay over 36 percent for the game. David Nwaba filled-up the box score with 9 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists.

Up next

Cal Poly now has finals week off before traveling to Moraga to play at St. Mary’s next Monday. They’ll follow that up with a trip to USC before playing three road games in Texas before the first of the year and the start of Big West Conference play.

Photos by Owen Main