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SAN FRANCISCO - In a 13-1 hole to start Tuesday's contest, all looked lost for the Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team. The Broncos rallied though and ended up pulling off a wild 69-66 victory in overtime on the road against San Francisco State in the first round of the conference tournament.
"We played with a lot of heart," CPP head coach
Greg Kamansky said. "It was two tough teams trading blows. We were down early and it could have been a rout. I'm proud of how our guys battled through the entire game."
The result sends the Broncos to Cal State East Bay in Hayward, Calif., the site of the semifinals and final for the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Tournament. Fifth-seeded CPP will challenge the second-seeded Cal State Dominguez Hills squad at 12:30 p.m. Friday.
Moments after taking the 9-0 lead out of the gates Tuesday, the Gators of SFSU extended the margin to 12 with the score 13-1 at the 14:34 mark. The Broncos didn't fade into the San Francisco night though, as CPP scratched and clawed itself back to a 17-17 tie roughly seven minutes later on a
Mitchel Anderson layup.
Two successful free throws from
Kevin Menner on the next possession gave the Broncos their first lead of the night, 19-17. CPP carried a 33-29 advantage into intermission.
Moving into the second half, the Broncos powered their margin up to 14 as
Dwayne Fells dropped in a bucket to make the score 49-35. The Gators weren't done either though, as SFSU held CPP scoreless across the next five minutes while tallying a 10-0 run behind the strong shooting of Phoenix O'Rourke and Winston Demmin.
The two squads traded leads through the final minutes of regulation, with the Broncos holding onto a 60-59 advantage going into the last 60 seconds.
Donnelle Booker managed to push the margin to 61-59 by knocking down one of his two free throws with 38 ticks left on the board.
Six seconds later, Demmin sunk a pair of attempts from the strike to even the score at 61-61. Last-second chances by Booker landed off the mark and the two teams moved into overtime.
The extra period proved to be epic, as Anderson and SFSU's Marquel Hoskins knocked down back-to-back treys to move the score to 64-64. Free throws from CPP gave the visitors a 66-64 lead but a Demmin layup pulled it back to even, 66-66. That's where the score stood entering the final minute of overtime, before Fells sunk a clutch jumper with 24 seconds remaining to give the Broncos a 68-66 edge.
The Gators turned the ball over on their final possession, with
Tobias Jahn stepping in for the key steal and then sinking a free throw to close out the contest at the 69-66 result.
Once again, it proved to be a balanced offensive effort for the Broncos, who had five players in double figures.
Matt Rosser paced the squad with 14 points on 4-for-4 shooting. Off the bench, Menner and Anderson added 12 points apiece, while starters Fells and Booker contributed 11 each.
As a team, CPP shot 51.2 percent from the field. Booker played a team-high 40 minutes, while Rosser and Jahn added 36 and 35 respectively. The Gators were led offensively by Demmin, who recorded 23 points on 7-for-10 shooting.
