Cal Poly up 8 with :48 to play but falls in overtime

Posted: Mar 7, 2010 9:52 AM
Updated: Mar 7, 2010 9:52 AM

Junior Shawn Lewis tied his career-high with 26 points, but it was not enough as the UC Irvine Anteaters overcame a 10 point second half deficit to win 91-84 over the Cal Poly Mustangs in a Big West Conference game on Saturday in Mott Gym.

The win secured the No. 7 seed for UCI at the Big West Conference Basketball Tournament next week while Cal Poly became the No. 6 seed.

With the win UCI improved to 14-17 overall and 6-10 in conference play while the Mustangs dropped to 11-18 overall and 7-9.

Cal Poly will face UC Irvine on Wednesday in the first round of play at the BWC tournament.

The Mustangs held an eight point lead (70-62) with 48 seconds remaining in regulation when UCI hit four 3-pointers in the final 38 seconds to send the game into overtime at 74-74. Darren Moore hit the tying three with less then a second on the clock.

In overtime, Cal Poly hit the first field goal, a jumper by Lewis, and held a one point lead (78-79) on a lay up by Kyle Odister with 2:13 left when UCI when on a 14-6 run to put the game away. Patrick Rembert led the Anteaters with seven points in the overtime period with Darren Moore adding six.

In the first period the Mustangs led by as many as 13 points (25-12) when senior Lorenzo Keeler hit a lay up off a feed from Lewis with 7:15 left in the half. The Mustangs held a five point advantage at the break, 33-28.

Lewis' 26 points came when he hit seven of 14 shots from the floor and connected on 11 of 13 from the line. He recorded his second career double-double with 10 rebounds. Keeler added 21 points when he made five of 21 from the floor and eight of nine from the line. Keeler had a steak of 32 consecutive free throws snapped when he missed late in the second half.

Odister came off the bench to scored 16 points while sophomore David Hanson tallied his third career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Keeler moved into 13 place in the Cal Poly record book. He passed Dawin Whiten (1,104) and now has 1,119 points in his Cal Poly career.

UCI was led by Moore with 24 points when he made seven of 13 shots from the floor with Rembert adding 20 points. Michael Hunter scored 19 with Eric Wise helping out with 17 points.

UCI shot 36 percent from the floor and made 10 of 25 three pointers while Cal Poly also hit 36 percent from the floor, but connected on only eight of 30 long range.

The Anteaters went to the line 43 times and made 35 with the Mustangs attempting 35 and making 26.

Cal Poly outrebounded UCI 51-46 but turned the ball over four more times (9-5).

Prior to the game Cal Poly honored the team's three seniors, Keeler, Ryan Darling and Charles Anderson, all playing their final game in Mott Gym.