In a game that they were out-rebounded by 10, committed 16 turnovers, and had two of their top scorers — Luke Meikle (6) and Josh Martin (0) — combine for just six points, Cal Poly made a second half run and found a way to beat Northern Illinois 68-64.

Great team win vs host Northern Illinois! Big time production from our bench. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

— Pawel Mrozik (@coachmrozik) November 24, 2016

Joseph gets hot

Victor Joseph had his best game yet in a Cal Poly uniform. By Owen Main

Junior transfer Victor Joseph had his finest game as a Mustang. Joseph scored 19 points, knocking down two three-pointers and knifing inside for an array of layups and runners.

While fellow small guard Donovan Fields got some rhythm last weekend at home, Joseph came off the bench to shoot 6-8 from the field.

Zach Attack

Zach Gordon has been a stabilizing influence inside off the bench this season, and Wednesday was no different. Gordon entered the game at the under 16:00 timeout in the first half and promptly took a pair of charges and finished a dunk. He was 1-1 shooting for the game. Gordon also added three blocked-shots in the first half and battled hard with Northern Illinois big man Marin Maric throughout the game.

Zach Gordon has given Cal Poly valuable minutes in the front court this season. By Owen Main

His stat line doesn’t look like much in the box score, but there is a good reason he was on the floor for 27 minutes. Production gets you minutes.

Overall, Cal Poly’s bench scored 31 of the Mustangs’ 68 points. Mustang guards accounted for all but eight of Cal Poly’s scoring output on the night.

Start Fast

Cal Poly’s first half saw them outscore NIU by 10 points. The score was tied within the first few minutes of the second half and, on two occasions, NIU led by 6 points twice in the final half before Cal Poly stormed back to take control.

Streaky

With Cal Poly down by six points and just over eight minutes to play, Ridge Shipley scored seven straight points in about a minute for the Mustangs on three straight possessions to cut the lead to two. Josh Mishler’s right-handed drive on the next possession tied the game at 51.

From there, Joseph scored nine of Cal Poly’s final 17 points en route to victory.

Death Lineup?

Like most of the scoring in this particular game, Cal Poly’s big run came with a sort of death lineup on the floor. With Zach Gordon at the five and 6′ 5″ Josh Mishler at the four, Cal Poly ran Victor Joseph, Jaylen Shead, and Ridge Shipley at three guard positions. Joseph and Shipley were able to get good penetration, while Shead and Mishler battled inside just enough for Cal Poly to not get killed on defensive rebounding.

A three point-guard lineup like this has been intriguing to me all year with the roster as it’s constructed. Look for Cal Poly to use it to make other teams uncomfortable for portions of games and to extend this type of a lineup if it seems to be working well.

Up Next

Cal Poly will take Thanksgiving Day off before battling University of Illinois-Chicago on Friday and Elon on Saturday to conclude the NIU Thanksgiving Classic. Elon beat UIC 91-80 on Wednesday.

Phil Ruskin, who took over for Paul Holocher 12 days before the season began, looks for his first home victory as a head coach this weekend. By Owen Main

Less than a month ago, Phil Ruskin was a second-year assistant coach under Paul Holocher, preparing for the fast-approaching NCAA soccer season. Now, two games into the season, Ruskin is the program’s interim head coach, trying to put his own stamp on a program that has shown flashes of brilliance over the past few seasons.

“I don’ think you’re ever really prepared,” said Ruskin, who was thrust into the head coaching position just 12 days before the first game of the season. “Certainly, when a situation like this occurs, there’s absolutely no preparation, but even still it’s a great opportunity for our staff to learn, it’s a great opportunity to put our mark on the program, and it’s a chance to do something that’s never been done.”

A big win at UCLA early last season gave the Mustangs some early confidence. After a hot conference start, Cal Poly looked poised to be real Big West contenders. Instead, they limped to the finish line, managing only three wins out of 10 Big West regular season matches. In 2013, Cal Poly lost their final three matches of the season by a combined score of 8-2, and bowed-out of the playoffs with a decisive 4-1 loss to Cal State Northridge in the Big West Tournament.

Ruskin is looking at the season as an opportunity to show what he’s made of as the leader of the program.

“I think that’s the only way to look at it,” said Ruskin. “You have to be excited every morning to get up and to bring the energy to the training session, to have the preparation and the planning… . We want to look at our week each week and look at what days we want to do certain things. We want to manage the week for the players.”

At least one player has left the program since Holocher’s departure, and Ruskin has worked hard to keep everyone together as a unit.

“The biggest challenge right now is just making sure the guys are bought-in, and I think that their response this weekend showed us that they are,” said Ruskin. “I think the hardest thing is to come into a season with the idea in mind that you’re preparing one way and then a week before to understand that now, everything’s different. We’ve tried to keep things as consistent as we possibly can, I think the one thing we can ask from them is that they continue to do the same thing as well.”

Junior, Chase Minter, leads the Mustangs so far this season with three goals in the first two games. By Owen Main

Junior, Chase Minter has three goals in the first two games and believes that the controversy the team has gone through has helped develop some amount of chemistry between the players that might not have been there before.

“Our coaching staff and players started worrying more about what was in our control. Doing so made us more complete and a more solidified group,” said Minter. “In the time I’ve been here we’re probably the closest that we’ve ever been. I think we’re kind of born through fire, we’re getting closer through [adversity]. It’s really making us more solidified as a group and we’re working for each other more. I think it’s unfortunate what happened, but we’re definitely moving forward. We’re getting closer as the season goes-on.”

A dangerous and diminutive winger, Minter has been given the green light by Ruskin to play more freely and take advantage of attacking opportunities when they arise.

While the offensive numbers are gaudy, overall results haven’t quite been what anyone in the program wants. Last season, the program scored a program-record 43 goals in 21 games, but also gave up 34 en route to a 10-9-2 overall record.

“We’ve been working throughout the off-season on getting behind the ball, balancing, and so far it’s been looking better this year,” said junior goalie, Wade Hamilton. “We’re definitely still working, but we’re getting the hang of it.”

Last week, Cal Poly showed they can still be potent offensively, scoring six goals in two games in North Carolina. The Mustangs showed they still also have some work to do. They gave up five goals including a 4-3 loss to Davidson in their first game of the year. In that match, they lost an early 2-0 lead.

The 3-1 victory two days later over ACC foe North Carolina State was Ruskin’s first win as head coach and gave the Mustangs some confidence going into their home home opener against Northern Illinois.

“We figured out what we were doing wrong in the first game [vs. Davidson],” said Hamilton. “We had a plan and we stuck to the plan and we capitalized on what we needed to do.”

Cal Poly’s non-conference home schedule includes six games this seaon against Northern Illinois, Massachusetts, Grand Canyon, San Francisco, and Pacific.

Their first two conference games are at home also. Conference contenders UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton will be in town October 2nd and 5th, respectively.

The schedule doesn’t get easier, but Ruskin gives off an aura of confidence and assuredness. While carrying on the possession-oriented, offensive style Holocher has developed, he also seems a little more open to adjust styles of play based on the game.

“We want to continue to play attractive soccer,” said Ruskin. “But I think we’ve asked the players to really read the game in a way where they understand that there are certain moments when we do have to play a bit more direct, at times, because that’s what the game calls for.”

Cal Poly Men’s Soccer at a glance:

Current Record: 1-1

Goals for: 6

Goals against: 5

Leading Scorer: Chase Minter (3)

Tonight’s game: 7:00 PM, Alex G. Spanos Stadium vs. Northern Illinois

Sunday’s game: 12:00 Noon, Alex G. Spanos Stadium vs. Massachusetts

Photos by Owen Main

It’s only the bottom of the fifth (halfway through) and we’ve been going for 2:22. It’s 8-5 NIU now, though that could change, but photos are getting posted.

Jimmy Allen’s second or third-inning RBI single — courtesy of Michael Parolini.

Photos by Owen Main

[See image gallery at www.fansmanship.com]

Freshman Justin Calomeni has impressed this season, going 4-0 so far as Cal Poly’s mid-week starter. By Owen Main

Freshman Saturday starter, Slater Lee, has been getting a lot of attention this season. On Tuesday Justin Calomeni, Lee’s freshman mid-week counterpart, pitched 6 1/3 innings, struck out nine for the second time this season, and moved his record to 4-0 as the Tuesday starter.

“Whether it’s weekend or mid-week, it doesn’t really matter,” said Calomeni, who pitched as a senior at Bellarmine Prep in San Jose last season. “You’ve just got to go and compete every pitch and give it your all and that’s what I just kind of try to do every time.”

Calomeni’s ERA now stands at 1.61, which is only good enough for third out of four Cal Poly starters. What has allowed him to come out of the gate so quickly?

“Just believing in my stuff and that I’m a good pitcher and that I’ve just got to work with that. There’s still a lot of stuff I need to work on, but it’s a good sign that I can still battle without my best stuff,” said Calomeni.

Cal Poly scored just four times, but Calomeni and Reed Reilly combined to give up just two runs and strike-out 11. Reilly pitched the final 2 2/3 innings for the save, his fourth of the season.

“He’s been real good for us,” said head coach Larry Lee. “He’s been our Tuesday starter all year and it’s very important to have a quality Tuesday guy and not all teams have that luxury. It’s good to feel like you’re the better team on those mid-week games. He did what he normally does and threw some good pitches.”

Lee also agreed that Calomeni wasn’t at his sharpest despite the win.

“The thing he needs to work on is being able to put away hitters when he has the chance instead of allowing the hitter to go deep in the count and then put the ball in-play,” said Lee.

A school on the quarter system, Cal Poly has finals next week, so playing these games allows the Mustangs to schedule the maximum amount of games during the season. It also gives them a chance to test their pitching depth. On Tuesday, they only used two pitchers with Reilly getting the long save.

“That’s how we used Reed all season last year and you want him on the mound when the game’s on the line,” said Lee. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the seventh, eighth, or ninth inning, he’s your best option. If you’re playing six games in six days, you want to keep Taylor Chris from throwing on the same day as read does so you have one of those guys who has been very consistent to be at your disposal.”

The two freshman starters this season have combined to go 6-1 so far this season, striking-out 48 and walking just 15 batters.

“It gives you a little bit of confidence in the future also,” said Lee. “Not only this year, but next year because you end up losing some of your main pitchers each year and it will be no different this year. Just to see what they’ve done through the first five weeks of the season gives you a vision of what the future might hold… . Both Calomeni and Lee are pretty mature mentally for freshmen and we expect them to get better throughout the course of the year.”

The game was the first of an 18-game homestand for the Mustangs and the first of six games in six days.

Photos by Owen Main

[See image gallery at www.fansmanship.com]

Probable starters for the next five games:

Wednesday – Danny Zandona

Thursday – Slater Lee

Friday – Matt Imhof

Saturday – Casey Bloomquist

Sunday – Justin Calomeni