Many will enter, few will win. Photo by Will Parris

For the third night in a row, Will Parris took some great shots for Fansmanship at the Big West Tournament.

Long Beach State had been the conference favorites all season and they didn’t disappoint as they defeated UCSB 77-64 to earn the Big West’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Long Beach and Casper Ware will face Steve Alford’s New Mexico Lobos in the first round of the Big Dance this week.

Photos by Will Parris

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On this night, the Blue/Green rivalry lived up to the hype.

In the first Big West Conference game for both teams, UC Santa Barbara’s Orlando Johnson made a three-pointer that bounced off the rim at least three times to give the Gauchos a 58-57 win over Cal Poly Tuesday night.

The loss was maddening for a sold-out Mott gym crowd that saw its team claw back from a 13-point deficit despite making only 13 of 24 free throws in the game. Just like last year, a late shot from a Gaucho helped UCSB escape Mott Gym with a victory.

Will Taylor blocks a shot in the second half of Monday night's game. Photo by Jamie Pereira

“If that thing would have came off, I would have grabbed it,” said Mustang forward Will Taylor, who netted a game high 17 points and 11 rebounds. “I thought it was coming into my hands, I’m not going to lie. I thought it was coming right to me… it felt like forever just watching it bounce and bounce and bounce, like on a cartoon I guess.”

“I thought it was coming off,” said Cal Poly point guard Amaurys Fermin “It bounced off three or four times. But that goes to tell you that anything can happen. He’s considered the preseason player of the year and that was a tough shot.”

Johnson’s game-winning shot was set-up by a series of Cal Poly misses at the free throw line. The Mustangs were 11-21 from the charity stripe in the second half including 1-4 in the last 36 seconds.

Unexpected Contributions

The Gauchos were paced by four players in double figures, including two unlikely heroes. Freshman forward Alan Williams scored 13 points and pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds in 29 minutes off the bench. Nate Garth also came off the bench with a hot hand, knocking down all four of his shots from the field including 3-3 from behind the arc.

Despite stars Johnson and James Nunnally being held mostly in-check throughout the contest, Garth’s 3-pointer witth15:19 remaining in the game put UCSB up by 13 points.

That’s when the Mustangs started to scrap back into the game. Cal Poly used a late 13-4 run to earn a two-point lead with 18 seconds remaining. That set the stage for Orlando Johnson to once again break the hearts of the Mott Gym faithful.

Mustang guard Jamal Johnson, who has seen sporadic minutes this season, came off the bench and helped to spark the Mustang comeback, connecting on two three-pointers and giving Cal Poly another ball handler on the floor.

“Jamal gave us a tremendous shot in the arm,” said Mustangs head coach Joe Callero. “I thought Jamal was a real catalyst.”

Resilience

While they have lost some close games (losses to CSU Bakersfield by 2, Saint Mary’s by 5, DePaul by 5, and now UCSB by 1), the Mustangs have kept themselves in games when it looked as though things were getting out of reach.

“We’re just as good as they are,” said Taylor of what the Mustangs can take away from the game. “We’re not going to quit, we’re not going to roll over. We’re just going to keep playing Cal Poly Basketball. We’re still learning.”

Mott Sold Out

The game was the first sell-out at Mott Gym since the UCSB game two years ago. Even with a team that finished second in the conference regular season standings, the Mustangs did not sell out any of their home basketball games last season.

“It was exciting. Every time I step out on the court and play with the team here, it’s just really exciting,” said Fermin. “I’m excited for the next 15 [conference games].”

The crowd, which was anxious through most of the game, came alive during Cal Poly’s second half run.

“I love it. I love playing at Cal Poly, I love playing in this atmosphere, and I know they’ll be back,” said Fermin of the fans. “That’s what gets us going. We’re going to get excited for them. They know they’re excited for us, and we’re happy to have them.”

Bouncing Back

The Mustangs won’t have much time to think about the UCSB loss. They turn around and travel to Long Beach to play conference favorite Long Beach State on Thursday night. The 49ers won their conference opener at UC Irvine by 14 points after trailing 32-31 at halftime.

“We know UCSB was going to be a tough match-up,” said Taylor. “At the end of the day, we were right there with them. We know we’re good enough to play with any team.”

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Photos by Jamie Pereira