SEASIDE, Calif. - Phoenix Shackelford scored 21 of his game- and career-high 27 points in the second half and the Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team navigated a wild finish to get past Cal State Monterey Bay, 71-68, in a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) game at The Kelp Bed on Thursday night.
A fourth straight win and fifth in its last six moves CPP to 12-8 overall and back to an even 8-8 in the CCAA. Combined with Cal State East Bay falling 68-66 at Stanislaus State, and then this Saturday's opponent, San Francisco State, losing 91-75 at home to sixth-ranked Cal State San Bernardino a few minutes after the final buzzer in Seaside, the Broncos have clinched the sixth and final seed at the CCAA Tournament in Arcata, March 3-5. CPP will play at 5:30 p.m. next Thursday, March 3, against the No. 3 seed, which will either be Cal State San Marcos, or these same Otters (13-7, 12-5 CCAA), who were winners of five of their last six coming in and had already punched their tourney ticket.
Cal Poly Pomona has still not missed a single CCAA Tournament under 22nd-year head coach
Greg Kamansky, having now made all 14 installments since the event returned at the end of the 2007-08 season, not including the 2021 edition that was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. The feat was not without some considerable effort this time around from Kamansky's squad, as they were toiling around the second half of the standings while on a three-game losing skid, all at home, to end the month of January, before going 5-1 thus far in February to extend their season. The Broncos were in fact still alone in eighth heading into play on Feb. 19, with back-to-back wins vaulting them into the all-important sixth position, to stay.
Shackelford shot 10-of-19 from the field for his 27 points, and 6-of-7 from the free throw line, including 5-of-6 over the final 39 seconds.
Tavian Henderson's driving layup gave Cal Poly Pomona two points on its initial possession. CSUMB needed three offensive rebounds before making a jumper on its first trip. Henderson later passed out for a straightaway three-pointer by freshman teammate
Dane Erikstrup.
The first six and a half minutes had three tie scores and three lead changes, but five points in a row by the Otters' Noah Stapes, through three free throws and a layup, gave the hosts a 16-11 edge. Henderson answered immediately with a two-handed dunk off a nice inside feed from Shackelford.
Heading toward the under-eight timeout, Jordan May grabbed the rebound of a Levi Frankland miss from the left corner, got the ball back, and knocked down a deep triple to give the Otters a 22-13 cushion. May ultimately scored seven straight points for CSUMB around CPP baskets by Erikstrup and Shackelford, to maintain a nine-point lead at 26-17. His third bucket in that stretch, ignited a 9-0 run by the hosts for 33-17 as the Broncos called a timeout. J.R. Schilling had five of the points.
Cal Poly Pomona snapped out of it through a
Tay Aubry-Thomas bucket and a
BJ Standley three-pointer on consecutive possessions ahead of the under-four stoppage. The Broncos came out of that break with a second Standley triple. Henderson and Standley followed with a jumper and a third connection from deep, respectively, to make it a 13-0 flurry and pull the guests back to within just three, 33-30, with 1:08 to go. Back-to-back May field goals had the home side up 37-30 at halftime.
CSUMB held a 24-16 rebounding advantage at the break, which included 14 on the offensive glass.
Early in the second half, Standley grabbed the rebound off his own miss and found Shackelford for a three-pointer to cut CPP's deficit to two at 39-37. On each of the Broncos' next two possessions, Standley was again the assist-getter, both times to Henderson with a dunk and then a driving layup. The latter score tied the game for a fourth time at 41-41.
That sequence opened the door for another double-digit run, this one of 12-0. Aubry-Thomas got a layup and then stole the ball on one end and fed it forward to a streaking
Christopher Mitchell for a loud, uncontested one-handed dunk. Standley assisted
Chris Gayles Jr. on a lay-in, and Shackelford's basket gave his side a 49-41 lead with 10 minutes left.
The Otters promptly responded with back-to-back-to-back Stapes three-pointers to regain a 50-49 edge. A three-point play by Shackelford took the Broncos into the under-eight media timeout up 52-50.
Shackelford scored again out of that break, but successive three-pointers by Kyle Johnson and Stapes again made it 56-54 in favor of the home side. Standley in turn assisted Erikstrup to level matters yet again. A Standley floater from the edge of the lane put CPP on top.
From there, Aubry-Thomas split free throws coming out of the final media timeout, rebounded a Shackelford miss and converted the put-back, and then got his hands on a defensive rebound before brilliantly assisting Shackelford on the opposite end to make it a two-possession game, 63-56. The Otters used a timeout with 1:53 remaining.
It was more of Aubry-Thomas nearing the finish, as the sophomore transfer from Allan Hancock College pulled down another defensive board, got fouled, and knocked down the first of two free ones.
What followed was a rather remarkable sequence. Within 19 seconds, CSUMB got a three-pointer from Tommy Kramer, CPP turned it over on the inbounds pass, and the Otters' Frankland grabbed the rebound of an Andrew Ferguson three-point shot and flipped the ball back up and in as he was fouled. The three-point play suddenly heightened the drama at 64-62, still with just over a minute to go.
An Erikstrup layup and two Shackelford free throws preceded a Kramer three. Shackelford then split a pair, and Kramer drilled another triple from the right wing with Standley draped all over him. The Otters fouled again and Shackelford made it a three-point game from the stripe. CSUMB inbounded the ball underneath its own basket with 4.6 ticks left, but Kramer dribbled it off his foot around mid-court, and was unable to get a final shot off.
Aubry-Thomas came off the bench for eight points, a season-high 13 boards, two assists, one steal, and a block. Standley registered 11 points largely off 3-of-6 three-point shooting to go along with a game-best six assists. Henderson had 12 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Erikstrup contributed nine points, eight boards and a pair of steals. Shackelford added three rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Stapes led CSUMB off the bench with 17 points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal, going 4-of-7 from three-point range. Fellow Point Loma transfer May scored 16 points, all in the first half. He shot 7-of-11 over the first 20 minutes, but missed all four attempts after halftime. Johnson posted a double-double with 10 points and 13 boards. Ferguson had 10 rebounds but just two points. Kramer produced 11 points and a team-high four assists.
CPP held the Otters to just 36.1 percent (26-72) shooting from the field and 29.7 percent (11-37) from long range.
Cal Poly Pomona remains in Northern California to conclude the regular season this Saturday afternoon, Feb. 26. The Broncos head north to the city to take on San Francisco State (11-15, 8-11 CCAA). Tipoff is slated for 3 p.m. on Senior Day inside the Main Gym at Don Nasser Family Plaza, after the women's game at 1 p.m. Please click
here for SF State Athletics' spectator policy.
All CCAA basketball contests throughout this 2021-22 season are streaming live online via the CCAA Network at
www.ccaanetwork.com. Fans may also download the CCAA Network app on your iOS or Android smartphone, tablet, or through web streaming devices such as Amazon Fire, Roku or Apple TV. The CCAA Network has moved to a subscription-based model at just $9.95 per month. Subscribers have access to all CCAA broadcasts, both live and on-demand.
Bronco Bits: Cal Poly Pomona is 429-174 (.711) overall and 317-127 (.714) in CCAA play under 22nd-year head coach and record five-time CCAA Coach of the Year
Greg Kamansky ... Kamansky sent out the starting lineup of seniors
Tavian Henderson,
Phoenix Shackelford and
BJ Standley, alongside true freshmen
Dane Erikstrup and
Jaden Winfield, for the third game in a row and fifth time this year ... The Broncos have used seven starting lineups this season ... Shackelford has played in all 108 games since his arrival at CPP ... Shackelford is the lone Bronco to start all 20 contests this year, scoring in double figures in each one ... Shackelford now has nine 20-point efforts for his career, with seven coming this season ... Shackelford's previous career high was 25 points in a loss at then-21st-ranked Cal State San Bernardino back on Nov. 27 ...
Tay Aubry-Thomas reached double figures in rebounds for the second time this year, with his 13 boards the most in a single game by a Bronco in 2021-22 ... CPP has matched its longest win streak of the season, having started the campaign a perfect 4-0 ... The Broncos are 6-4 away from home in 2021-22 ... CPP leads the all-time series, 27-6, all under Kamansky, and has won eight straight matchups since a 67-65 home loss on Feb. 11, 2016 ... The Broncos are 14-3 in Seaside, and have taken 13 in a row there since a 69-52 defeat on Feb. 1, 2008 ... This season's first meeting between these teams, in Pomona on Jan. 8, was called off due to COVID-19 protocols ... The Otters and Broncos took up the No. 9 and No. 10 spots, respectively, in Wednesday's edition of the NCAA West Region poll … The top eight in the final version make up the NCAA West Regional, with the selection show airing live on
NCAA.com at 7:30 p.m. PT on Sunday, March 6.
