CHICO, Calif. - Things were beginning to look pretty grim for the Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team. Having had to cancel no fewer than four home dates due to COVID-19 issues and after dropping its last three contests in succession in Pomona, they began a season-long four-game road stretch at 10th-ranked preseason California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) favorite Chico State on Thursday night.
How did 22nd-year head coach
Greg Kamansky's squad respond?
The Broncos refused to say die and put it all together with their typical stifling defense in the first half and some unreal performances after the interval, holding on for a 71-67 upset triumph over their top-10 rival at their own Acker Gym to revitalize their postseason hopes.
The victory improves CPP to 8-7 overall and 4-7 in the CCAA. Third-place Chico State had its two-game win streak snapped to fall to 13-3 overall and 9-3 in league play. The fierce foes thus split their regular-season series, as the Wildcats had taken the initial meeting, 74-64, in Pomona on Dec. 4.
As a result of all of the night's action, CPP moves from a ninth-place tie to sole possession of seventh in the CCAA table, with seven games to go and the top six qualifying for next month's CCAA Tournament.
Thursday's tight, exhilarating affair featured 17 lead chances and seven tie scores, and just 17 combined turnovers.
BJ Standley's left-wing three-pointer got things going for CPP, with the veteran guard providing a nice assist to fellow senior and long-time teammate
Tavian Henderson two possessions later. Chico State was still up by the slimmest of margins, 7-5, at the initial media timeout. From there,
Christopher Mitchell and Colby Orr traded three-pointers, and
Phoenix Shackelford's layup leveled matters at 10-10.
Later, true freshman
Caleb Nelson took a pass from Henderson toward the left wing and rattled in a three to give the Broncos a five-point cushion at 20-15 ahead of the under-eight timeout. It was the first two-possession lead of the night for either side.
Approaching the five-minute mark, sophomore CPP big man
Tay Aubry-Thomas grabbed the defensive rebound and started the fast break. Standley and Mitchell each had nifty passes inside, with Aubry-Thomas ultimately the beneficiary for a strong two-handed jam as Chico State head coach Greg Clink immediately called a timeout, down 22-17.
Cal Poly Pomona led by as many as seven before settling on a 27-23 advantage at the break. It was the Broncos' best first half in terms of points allowed since they led 28-20 en route to a home win over Stanislaus State on Dec. 2, and third-best of the season.
The first 20 minutes saw 11 lead changes and two tie scores. Senior Malik Duffy, Chico State's leading scorer coming in at 14.3 points per game, was just 1-of-9 from the floor for four points.
The second half began with an electric blocked shot by Henderson down low, but inside of 90 seconds, the game was tied again at 27-27, with Duffy good on his first attempt coming out of the locker room.
Back-to-back buckets by Shackelford, with the senior leader completing the three-point play on the latter, gave CPP a five-point trip as Chico State committed an off-the-ball foul on the first one. The Broncos thus had some breathing room again at 34-28.
A 9-2 Chico run was capped by a go-ahead Kevin Warren three-pointer, which began a distance duel that saw two straight made triples by each team on consecutive possessions. Standley hit from the right wing, then Isaiah Brooks for the Wildcats, and Nelson to keep CPP ahead, 42-40.
Duffy's tough three-point play around the under-16 timeout off the rebound of his own miss inside, made it 43-42 in favor of the hosts. A three-point play by the Broncos' redshirt freshman
William Chavarin, in his first appearance since Dec. 18, tied the score at 45-45.
Henderson tapped out the rebound of an Aubry-Thomas miss to Standley, got it back, found an egregious opening and drove to the cup for the lay-in and the harm. He hit the free throw, and on the next Bronco trip following a defensive miscommunication and wide-open Duffy triple, delivered another driving bucket to close to 52-50 at 9:30.
CPP forced an empty Wildcat possession, and on the other end, got an exquisite backdoor cut by Mitchell with Standley finding him perfectly for the easy layup, with a whistle, as the guests went back up, 53-52.
Immediately as the action really heated up, a gigantic block from behind by Mitchell on a sure conversion inside by Kaleb Carter, turned into a pull-up three-pointer by Standley and 56-52.
The game-changing run extended to 10-0 with another Mitchell and-one ahead of the under-eight timeout to suddenly make it a 58-52 game, though the redshirt freshman missed the free throw. Chico State came right back from that and got an and-one opportunity from Kelvin Wright Jr., but he, too, missed from the stripe.
Moments later, Mitchell grabbed the rebound of a three-point miss from the right corner by
Jaden Winfield, and put his shot off the glass and in for yet one more three-point chance. He completed it for 61-55. Mitchell continued his stellar play with a banked shot from the right side of the lane following an Evan Oliver three-point play.
On CPP's next trip, Chavarin came up short on his driving reverse layup, but Henderson soared in for an incredible play, cradling the rebound with his right hand and dunking it in one enormously-athletic motion without bringing it down to make it 65-58. Shackelford's left-wing triple pushed it to a double-digit affair for the first time at 68-58.
Things still got further interesting by the finish. Brooks kept his team alive at 68-64 with a three-pointer from the right baseline, and after Henderson missed the front end of a one-and-one at the line, Duffy unleashed a 28-foot triple from the deep left wing to make it a one-point game. Shackelford then knocked down two giant free throws with 19.9 seconds left. The Broncos defended the next possession well and forced a deep right-wing Duffy miss, and Standley swished the second of his two free ones to effectively put it out of reach at a four-point margin.
Henderson led all players with a season-high 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field, adding a team-best seven rebounds, two assists and a block. Mitchell was big, dropping in 17 points off the bench to come within one of matching his own season high. The Oceanside product went 7-of-11 from the floor and also had five boards, two assists, one steal and a block. Shackelford scored 10 of his 12 points after halftime. Standley dished out a game-high six assists and grabbed a season-best six rebounds to go along with 10 points from three triples.
Brooks and Duffy finished with 18 points apiece, combining for seven made three-pointers, with Duffy posting a double-double with his game-high 10 rebounds. Warren had nine points, seven boards, two assists and two steals. The Wildcats shot a season-low 37.1 percent (23-62).
Cal Poly Pomona remains in Northern California to continue this road swing on Saturday, Feb. 5, at Stanislaus State (6-10, 3-8 CCAA). Tipoff inside Ed & Bertha Fitzpatrick Arena in Turlock is slated for 7:30 p.m., following the women's game at 5:30 p.m.
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 425-173 (.711) overall and 313-126 (.713) in CCAA play under 22nd-year head coach and record five-time CCAA Coach of the Year
Greg Kamansky ... Kamansky sent out the same starting lineup for the second game in a row, with seniors
Tavian Henderson,
Phoenix Shackelford and
BJ Standley joined by sophomore
Tay Aubry-Thomas and true freshman
Jaden Winfield ... The Broncos have used six starting lineups this season ... Shackelford has played in all 103 games since his arrival at CPP, and is the lone Bronco to start all 15 contests this year ... True freshman
Dane Erikstrup, the team's second-leading scorer, missed his second game in a row after starting the first 13 ... Henderson matched his career high of 19 points from a win at Point Loma on Nov. 10, 2018, in his sophomore year at Saint Martin's ... Standley equaled his career best in rebounds from his own SMU days ...
William Chavarin had a season-high five points and his first three collegiate rebounds ...
Caleb Nelson had a season- and game-high three blocks ... The Broncos are 4-3 away from home in 2021-22 ... CPP leads 38-23 in the all-time series that dates back to 1959-60 (15-12 in Chico since 1979-80) ... The Broncos had won four straight matchups before the Dec. 4 loss, including a three-game season sweep in 2019-20 ... CPP has won three straight at Chico State, with its last defeat there by the score of 76-65 on Jan. 13, 2018 ... The Broncos are 32-15 against the Wildcats under Kamansky (13-7 in Chico) ... CPP has still not suffered a regular-season sweep against Chico State since the 2014-15 campaign ... With Kamansky in charge, CPP is 27-30 against ranked foes (13-20 away from home; 2-3 this season), and 10-16 against top-10 opponents (7-9 away from home; 1-2 this season) ...
Milestone Watch: Standley has 963 career points (581 at Saint Martin's).
