Gaels Escape Mustangs

The Cal Poly Men’s basketball program was off to their best start (5-2) since the 2001-2002 season coming into Saturday’s contest versus the St. Mary’s Gaels (4-1) at Mott Gym. The Mustangs entered the game riding a modest 3-game winning streak after their 77-51 rout of Sacramento State Wednesday night.

Wins weren’t the only thing streaking for Cal Poly coming into the game. Forward and vocal team leader David Hansen came into the contest just 48 points short of 1,000 for his career, something only 16 other Mustangs have done in the history of the program.

Senior forward David Hanson led the Mustangs with 15 points Saturday night vs. Saint Mary's - Photograph by Owen Main

Junior guard Dylan Royer from Morro Bay High School also came into the contest having begun the season on fire from behind the arc, draining 19 of his first 29 3-point attempts (65.5%).

The Mustangs and their somewhat gaudy individual numbers however were in for a fight against the Gaels. Over the past five years, St. Mary’s has the 7th most wins in division I in the entire nation. The Gaels have a lot of everything you need to be a successful program – speed, quickness, size, depth, and an experienced coaching staff, just to name a few.

As the clock counted down toward tip-off, the student section began to fill with an unruly bunch, which is just the kind of support the rising Poly basketball program needs. To see this kind of excitement for a non-conference game is a clear sign that Coach Joe Callero is building something special in San Luis Obispo.

Both the Gaels and the Mustangs opened the contest in a “feel them out” type of sagging, man to man defense. Poly quickly went to work on offense, opening the game with a 5-0 run, capped by an early-clock 3-pointer by Hansen.

After an extended seven-minute start to the game without a timeout, Poly ran out to a slight 11-8 lead. The lack of stoppages would prove to be a trend for the entire game, as there were only 20 combined total fouls whistled against both teams in the first 39 minutes of the contest.

“The refs let us play – both teams. They didn’t call a lot of things out there either way, which was good,” said Senior forward Will Donahue.

Midway through the first half a Cal Poly scoring drought saw them only drop one field goal in the five minutes between the thirteen and eight minute marks. Poly broke the drought with a Hansen layup after a big offensive rebound that seemed to ignite the Mustang faithful.

Defense ruled the vast majority of the first half, as the frustration of offensive futility could be seen on the court. Pure hustle and effort began to trump execution.

As a testament to the scrappiness, senior guard Amaurys Fermin, who opened the game going 0-7 from the field, hit his first field goal at the halftime buzzer, a 3-pointer to give Poly a 26-25 lead at the break.

“Amaurys is a super-competitive kid. He’s is very skilled and his court awareness has improved immensely game by game,“ said Coach Callero.

Senior guard Amaurys Fermin netted seven points and three assists Saturday night. - Photo by Owen Main

The second half began with much more of an open-floor feel than the way first half ended. The Gaels came out seemingly motivated by some adjustment at the half, be it on the chalk board or via tounge-lashing. The back and forth that ended the first half however still remained. With 15:36 remaining the Mustangs held onto the slimmest of leads, 35-34.

Over the next 5 minutes the game turned on its head. St. Mary’s went on an 11-4 run that was highlighted by a superb level of defensive intensity, coupled with Poly’s mismanagement of the basketball.

The Gaels locked the Mustangs down with a ball-denial man to man defense that would rival anyone’s in the nation. The fact that the Mustangs decided to make extremely errant passes and lose continual loose ball situations during this time proved to be the crux of their undoing.

Cal Poly had four turnovers in the first 25 minutes of the game. Those four doubled to eight in the next five minutes, and then ballooned to ten total turnovers at the under 8:00 timeout. At that point, Poly found themselves down seven, 46-39.

“Our goal is to be a single-digit turnover team. When you’re up against a team that has so much ammunition, it goes to show how precious possessions can be,” commented Callero.

With Poly on their heels at this point, they either could have gone completely in the tank, or they could have lit a fire and given it their all to turn things around. They chose the latter, and I think this is a testament to the type of ‘never say die’ attitude Coach Callero and his staff have instilled in this team.

Out of the timeout, crowd favorite Dylan Royer hit a big 3-pointer, which brought him to a clean 20 for 30 (66.7%) from behind the arc to start the season. At the 4:00 minute mark the Mustangs had crawled to within five.

Rob Jones, the Gaels top scorer and rebounder, wouldn’t let the game slip away from his St. Mary’s squad at this point. Jones seemed to take over, as during one notable possession he backed down Poly’s undersized guard Blake U’u for a much needed late-game lay-up. Undettered, U’u then evened the score on the next Gaels possession as he ripped the ball away from Jones. The back and forth battle was extremely entertaining for all that were present.

At the 2:46 mark, Hansen had another big offensive rebound tip-in to bring Poly within three. During the timeout, Coach Callero noticeably was exhibiting his displeasure with the officials. To this point, there had been only two fouls called on St Mary’s in the entire second half.

The crowd got behind the coach throughout the timeout, and as the final portion of the game was about to unfold, for the first time, their effort was entirely in unison and Mott Gym was a ruckus.

The Mustangs fed on that energy and had a key defensive stop that resulted in a St Mary’s shot clock violation with 28.2 remaining and Poly down three. St. Mary’s then ratcheted up the ball-denial pressure on the inbounds as the Mustangs barely avoided a 5-second violation.

The Gaels then chose to defend the perimeter against a 3-pointer during this possession, and Poly was able to find Will Donahue completely uncovered underneath for an easy lay-up.

After a Poly timeout, some intense backcourt defensive pressure forced St. Mary’s to use one of its last two timeouts. The Gaels then inbounded to Australian sophomore guard Jorden Page, who was fouled immediately. Page’s first attempt was perfect, his second rattled home. Another timeout ensued, the Mustangs down 3 with only a few seconds remaining.

What then transpired was beyond deflating if you are a Mustang fan. 6’8” senior forward Will Donahue was assigned by Coach Callero to inbound the ball, and with the 5-second count looming, Donahue looked to make his pass, had a second thought, tried to stop himself, and let the ball roll off his fingertips inbounds, harmlessly into the possession of a surprised yet elated St. Mary’s defender.

Cal Poly then fouled, St. Mary’s sunk two more free throws, as the final score read 59-54 Gaels.

Post-game, Donahue showed a definite amount of disappointment, and wished things could have ended differently.

“Obviously we could have done a lot better and we’re not satisfied. There were some things we could have done different, but we did what we did and I’m proud of my teammates.”

This was a tough way to end the contest for Poly fans, but a lot can be taken from a matchup and an outcome such as this.

“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to St. Mary’s and coach Randy Bennett,” said Coach Callero post-game. “Playing a team like this raises the bar for us and prepares us for conference play.”

“St. Mary’s is right up there with UNLV as the toughest team we have faced so far this season,” said Hansen, who scored a team-high 15 points.

The loss drops Cal Poly to 5-3 as St. Mary’s rises to 5-1 on the young season.

The Mustangs don’t take the court again until next Saturday when they travel North on the 101 to take on the San Jose State Spartans for the second time this season. Cal Poly opened their season with a win at Mott Gym over the same Spartans, 79-52.

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1. David callero | Televistashow says:

   07/11/2012 at 2:36 am

   […] Gaels Escape Mustangs | FansmanshipDec 5, 2011 … Forward and vocal team leader David Hansen came into the contest … Coach Joe Callero is building something special in San Luis Obispo. […]