Mustangs snap home losing streak, beat Highlanders

Coming into Saturday’s Big West conference game against UC Riverside, Cal Poly men’s basketball had lost four in a row and head coach Joe Callero was doing everything he could to find a rotation that worked.

In fact, Cal Poly had used five starting lineups in the past eight games prior to Saturday night, when they broke-out an all-new one that included junior Michael Bolden.

Not Michael Bolton:

Or Michael Bolton:

Michael Bolden. With a D, and an E. And, on Saturday night, with four 3’s and a career-high 13 points. He looks like this:

Michael Bolden. Cal Poly fans will probably want to get to know him a little better. By Owen Main

Bolden provided a big spark and helped propel the Mustangs to their second conference win in their past eight games.

Eversley back to the block

After the Long Beach State game, Chris Eversley went to Mustangs head coach Joe Callero with a plan — get Eversley the ball down low. For much of the season the senior power forward has spent time on offense around the three-point line, facing-up and shooting from the outside. Over the past two games, Eversley has had more touches on the low block, resulting in a little better offensive consistency.

“Instead of a mobile four, we made him an inside-out four,” said Callero. “The biggest thing is getting to the free throw line… . That gives us rest and I can play him 39 minutes because he goes to the line, catches his breath.”

Eversley took his inspiration from probably the greatest basketball player in the world right now.

“You look at the teams that are successful and the guys that need to do what they need to do to win,” said Eversley, who scored 22 points against UC Riverside. “I mean you have guys like LeBron saying the same thing last  year: ‘Put me on the blocks and we do whatever we want to,’ and they win championships. So it’s just me trying to step-up and be that guy that can kind of facilitate, maybe help others create when they get in trouble… . It feels good to be able to be multi-dimensional.”

Bolden gives some long-range spark

Cal Poly junior  Michael Bolden started just his second game of the season. Bolden saw a lot of bench time during the first half of conference play but has re-emerged over the past few games, looking more confident and comfortable.

On Saturday, Bolden scored a career-high 13 points, including 4-5 from three-point range, to help give the team a third-option offensively that they so desperately needed.

Bolden has been through adversity in the past and has made it a habit to stick things out and find success. This summer, he played in a summer league with Eversley.

“I knew he could shoot, that’s never been a question,” said Eversley, who also lives with Bolden. “He’s hyper-athletic. Him and Dave (Nwaba) are two of the most freakish athletes I’ve ever seen in my life and they both work hard. I played against David in the summer too and just knowing those guys were going to be my teammates and playing in the summer leagues I saw good things I knew were going to transfer to our team as well.”

Bolden said he’s learned a lot from his senior roommate.

“Chris is like a big brother to me. I live with Chris and he’s just always encouraging me and trying to make me a better person, a better player. Chris is awesome.”

Without a lot of consistent three-point threats, Cal Poly has struggled to find much traction offensively. Now that Eversley is down on the block more, the Mustangs needed someone with some confidence to knock-down open shots and play strong defensively. That’s where Bolden fit-in. The junior made his first shot and was off to the races.

“It always feels good to hit the first shot,” said Bolden. “It’s always a confidence-builder, and then I just kept getting open shots. My teammates were finding me, setting good screens, giving good passes as well.”

Starting Bolden also allows Callero to bring Nwaba, who also scored 13 points on Saturday night, off the bench.

Keep an eye out for three-pointers

In Cal Poly’s six Big West Conference wins this season, the Mustangs are 48-100 from three point range. For those of you who aren’t good at math, that is 48 percent (an average of 8/16.7 per game).

In their seven conference losses, the Mustangs are 41-135 (30.4 percent) from behind the arc, shooting more three-pointers and making less (an average of 5.8/19.3 per game).

Whether the three-point numbers are a cause or a symptom of good or poor play, three-point shooting is something that fans can look at as an indicator of how the team is moving the ball and playing offensively.

Callero contextualized his team’s offensive progression.

“I thought before we reversed the ball kind of begrudgingly because we weren’t sure where it was going to go or why it should go there,” said the Cal Poly coach. “Right now we, as a team, know it’s going to go to Chris Eversley. That’s not a secret. We can tell [UC] Davis, ‘watch the film.’ Chris Eversley’s going to get a bunch of touches.”

Playing inside-out through Eversley is something you can look for Cal Poly to do in their final three games and into the Big West Tournament.

Tinkering

Callero has tinkered with the lineup, but the changes have also been based on the health of the team. Reese Morgan is working his way back into the rotation and Kyle Odister has a stress fracture in his foot that has caused him to miss games throughout conference play.

“We were 3-0, we lost at the buzzer, Kyle Odister had a stress fracture,” said Callero. “From that point on, we haven’t gone a practice or a game without wondering what we’re going to do and playing guys out of position really.”

Cal Poly is now (6-7) in Big West Conference play, good for a tie for fifth place, and have three games remaining. Two of their remaining games are against the two teams tied for first place — UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine. The only remaining home game this season will be against UC Santa Barbara in the regular season finale on Saturday, March 8th.

Photos by Owen Main