Mustangs win big against Gauchos

Posted: Feb 16, 2013 11:03 PM by Bill Halter
Updated: Feb 16, 2013 11:03 PM

The Cal Poly basketball team extended one streak and ended another with a 67-49 win against UCSB. The Mustangs won a 12th straight Big West Conference home game and stopped their six game losing streak to the Gauchos. The win improves Cal Poly to 12-11 overall, 8-5 in the Big West. UCSB drops to 8-16, 4-9 in the conference.

Senior guard Dylan Royer finished 7-for-16 from the three-point line to post a career-high 23 points for the Mustangs who were playing without leading scorer and rebounder Chris Eversley. Eversley is hoping to be able to return when the Mustangs play at Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday. He injured his ankle last Saturday in Cal Poly's win against UC-Davis.

UCSB sophomore center Alan Williams had game highs of 24 points and 17 rebounds.

Royer beat the buzzer with a three pointer to give the Mustangs a 29-21 lead going into the half. Cal Poly was held scoreless for the first five minutes after the break, as the Gauchos pulled to within three points at 29-26. The Mustangs steadily pulled away after that, eventually going up 48-31 on a three-pointer from junior guard Kyle Odister with 9:30 remaining. Odister finished with 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting and distributed four assists off the bench.

The Gauchos pulled to within six points with 3:52 to play but the Mustangs ended the game on a 16-2 run from there.

Cal Poly, which entered the game ranked sixth in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (now 1.49-to-1), finished with 16 assists against just eight turnovers. The Mustangs also benefited from shooting 14-15 at the free throw line.

In his first career start, freshman forward Joel Awich tied a career high with eight points, he added six rebounds. Awich electrified the sold-out crowd of 2,800 with two first half dunks.

While Cal Poly goes to CS-Fullerton (5-8) on Wednesday the Gauchos will play at UC-Riverside (2-11).