CHICO, Calif. – Breathe in, breathe out. With more than enough intensity and excitement, ESPN3 certainly picked the right game to feature.
With ESPN3 in Chico for the NCAA Division II Game of the Week, the Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team fell into an 18-point deficit midway through the second half and a casual online viewer might have mistakenly switched off the game.
In the final 10 minutes, the Broncos showcased their determination and closed the game on a 33-9 run to capture a wild comeback 67-61 victory over nationally-ranked Chico State. Sweeping the regular season series from the Wildcats, CPP has now clinched the opportunity to host a first-round CCAA Tournament game on Tuesday, March 1.
The Broncos improve to 20-5 overall and 13-5 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA). CPP remains in third place in the CCAA standings with two regular season games remaining.
Freshman
Jordan Ogundiran put together a breakthrough performance Friday, collecting a season-high 23 points with a 10-for-10 showing at the free throw line. He also added four rebounds, four steals and three assists.
Senior
Jordan Faison scored six points in the final 67 seconds, finishing with 16 points in the game to move up to No. 2 on the all-time scoring list. In the process, he passed CPP great Larry Gordon.
To start off the contest for the Broncos, the starting lineup was
Chris Sullivan,
Jordan Ogundiran,
Barry Bell,
Quentin Taylor, and
Jordan Faison. Ogundiran opened off the game's scoring with a three, then a Chico basket, and Ogundiran added another shot to take a 5-2 lead. As the visitors to Art Acker Gymnasium, the Broncos continued to add to their lead and at the first media timeout, CPP held a 9-5 advantage.
Scoring to the next media timeout was sparse as each squad only added a single basket to take the score to 11-7 in the Green and Gold's favor. From 13:53 to 8:09, the No. 1 nationally-ranked defense of the Broncos kept the Wildcats scoreless.
At the third media timeout in the half, the scoreboard read 15-10 in CPP's favor. To that point, just four of the home team's 17 shots had fallen as the Broncos tallied three blocks and three steals. Each time in the first half that CPP would reach its six-point lead the basket was scored by Bell from inside the arc, first with a layup, then a jumper.
Just under the five minute mark in the first half the hometown Wildcats would grab their first lead of the game as Chico's in-game statistics leader Robert Duncan tallied back-to-back threes to give the Wildcats a 19-15 lead.
Chico would continue to improve their lead through the half and at the conclusion of the first half, the score in Art Acker Gym was 29-17 with the Wildcats' advantage. In the first half, CPP carried the lead through 67.2% of the contest.
Strong defense from both sides would start off the second half with the first full minute remaining scoreless. A pair of home team free throws kicked off scoring, then Faison sank a free throw of his own to start the Broncos' scoring.
A layup from Faison led the two teams into the first media timeout with the scoreboard reading 39-25 Chico. A seven-point run for the Wildcats, their third-largest of the game gave them a 52-34 lead over the Broncos.
Scott Hastings would add a couple free throws, then Sullivan added a jumper, then three-straight free throws from Ogundiran would get the Broncos' offense over 40 points. After the free throws, Taylor sent in a three pointer to bring the Broncos deficit to eight with just over eight minutes to play in the game.
To add to the Broncos' run, Sullivan and Ogundiran would each add two to bring CPP just four points back. The Green and Gold posted 14-consecutive points on the run. The Bronco offense carried its momentum and would post seven more points in in next few minutes to cut the Wildcats' lead to just a single basket.
From there Ogundiran took off, and the freshman added to his career-high game as he four more free throws for the Green and Gold to tie them with the Wildcats. For the first time since the game's first half, the Broncos would pull into the lead after a
Jordan Faison put back boosted the Green and Gold above the Chico squad 63-61.
Four-straight free throws from Faison and the Broncos reached the game's final score of 67-61.
The Broncos will continue on their road trip before heading home for the final game of the regular season next weekend. On Saturday, CPP will head to Turlock to challenge the Stanislaus State Warriors. Stan had a strong showing on Friday against the Humboldt State Jacks as they topped them 100-92. They will enter Saturday's contest with a 6-16 record on the season, complete with a 5-12 mark in conference play.
