With 11:05 left in the second half, Cal Poly trailed UC Riverside by 21 points. But then came Kobe Sanders, the player who’s scored double digits in every game this season for the Mustangs.
Sanders led a near comeback for the Mustangs (4-24, 0-16 Big West) and scored a career-high 35 points. However, the Mustangs were still unable to get a win, falling to UC Riverside (13-16, 8-9 Big West) 84-78 on Saturday, Feb. 25 at home.
A late pull-up three from Sanders with 15 seconds left brought the Mustangs to within striking distance after being down 10 points with under two minutes to play. This bucket marked Sanders’ career-high.
After sinking the shot, he hustled over to mid-court and yelled “I’m that guy!” to his family in the crowd. ‘
“To see my brother in the crowd means everything to me,” Sanders said.“For him to watch something that he always dreamed of and live his dreams through me, it means everything.”
But despite a record performance from Sanders, the game ended in the same way as the last 15: in a loss.
The Mustangs have now dropped 16 straight games and were eliminated on Thursday night from the Big West Conference tournament.
Prior to the game, there was a ceremony for the Cal Poly senior families as their student-athletes were finishing up their collegiate basketball careers. These Cal Poly players included Tuukka Jaakkola, Aidan Prukop, and Sanders. Prukop did not play due to an injury.
UC Riverside came into this matchup, winning four of their last five games. UC Riverside’s star player, Barrington Hargress, was also recently named Big West Player of the Week this past Monday. He finished with 20 points on seven of 10 shooting in his performance. Nate Pickens also had 14 points in UC Riverside’s win.
In the first half, Jarred Hyder came out hot for the Mustangs, scoring 10 points on four of eight shootings. Both squads played a clean first half. The Mustangs had four turnovers versus UC Riverside’s three turnovers. Cal Poly was down as much as nine points with 8:36 left in the first half but was able to cut it to five going into halftime down 34-29.
As for the rest of the game, the Mustangs trailed the Highlanders by 21 points with 11:05 left, but Sanders’ 29 points in the second half gave the Mustangs a chance.
Justin Page had 13 points on five of nine shootingfrom the field, which marks the first time in his career that he has scored in double figures. Hyder also finished with 13 points.
“If you don’t get a win, there’s not much to say, ” Coach John Smith said. “We prepare for all of these games and I don’t want to make excuses, but you have to do the little things to pull out a win.”
After this game, Cal Poly still has four games to play, and only one home game left next weekend. Cal Poly will look to break their losing streak as they will take on UC Santa Barbara on Thursday, Feb. 29, at 7p.m.