San Luis Obispo, Calif. - Cal State Fullerton men's basketball's three-game winning streak was snapped as it lost in overtime at Cal Poly on Thursday night by a score of 101-100. After Fullerton took the lead with four seconds left, the Mustangs made a layup with 0.4 seconds on the clock to win the game. Despite Cal Poly leading for 36 minutes, there were still nine ties and 13 lead changes in the game. The loss snapped a seven-game winning streak for the Titans over the Mustangs.
The Titans trailed by nine with 1:02 left in the game but managed to send the game to overtime thanks to an Austen Awosika three with two seconds left. Then, at the end of overtime, Awosika was clutch once again as he sunk a floater with four seconds remaining to give the Titans a 100-99 lead. However, the Mustangs went the length of the court and hit a layup to win.
Ice in his veins! @austen_acee with a 3 to send it to overtime! He's got a career-high 28 points! #TusksUp pic.twitter.com/h3YMaQT8TF
— Titans Men's Basketball (@FullertonMBB) January 31, 2020
Senior forward Jackson Rowe scored a career-high 32 points on 10-13 shooting from the floor and 10-14 from the free-throw line. He also hauled in 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season while also dishing out four assists, recording four steals and blocking two shots in 43 minutes.
Awosika tallied a career-high 28 points on 10-19 shooting from the field and 5-9 at the line. He contributed three rebounds and five assists in 43 minutes.
Senior guard Brandon Kamga scored 16 points but 15 of those were in the first half. He committed four fouls in the second frame and fouled out with 32 minutes of action. Sophomore guard Wayne Arnold chipped in 14 points (4-6 3FG) in 32 minutes off the bench. Senior forward Davon Clare had a career-high seven assists to go with four points, four rebounds and three steals.
As a team, the Titans shot 57.4% (35-61) from the floor, marking the second time this year and just the second in the last three seasons that the team has lost when shooting greater than 50% from the field. Fullerton also shot 12-24 (50%) from three, marking the second-most made threes in a game this season against DI opponents. However, the Titans shot just 62.1% (18-29) from the charity stripe.
The Mustangs were led by Junior Ballard with 32 points. As a team they shot 57.4% (35-61) as well, 40.9% (9-22) from beyond the arc and 75.9% (22-29) at the free-throw line.
Next up, Fullerton heads to UC Irvine for a 7:30 p.m. PT tip on Saturday.
With the left! @JacksonRaw #TusksUp pic.twitter.com/AlMXiiBg1u
— Titans Men's Basketball (@FullertonMBB) January 31, 2020
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