Posted: Feb 19, 2015
FULLERTON, CA – Junior Reese Morgan brought a hot hand off the bench to score a season-high 21 points and Maliik Love added 12 Thursday night to lead Cal Poly to a 65-54 Big West Conference victory over Cal State Fullerton.
Morgan made 6 of 8 shots including 4 of 6 from the 3-point line and all five free throw attempts as the
Mustangs (13-11, 6-6) won their third game in a row for only the second time this season. Fullerton (9-17, 1-10) lost its fourth in a row despite a season-high of 16 points plus 6 rebounds from Kennedy Esume.
Cal Poly made 8 of 17 3-point tries (47 percent) including 6 of 10 in the second half. Fullerton made 3 of 4 treys and shot 54.5 percent overall but made only 3 of 8 free throws and committed 14 turnovers to 7 for the visitors.
The Titans' Steve McClellan led all rebounders with 9 but failed to score. Lanerryl Johnson and Jordan Mason each had 10 points for Fullerton. Brian Bennett had 7 rebounds and 10 points for Cal Poly.
There were 5 ties and 8 lead changes before the Mustangs took control, using a 20-4 run to turn a 31-27 deficit at 16:19 into a 47-35 lead at 8:48. During that stretch Cal Poly hit four 3-pointers in five tries. Cal Poly protected its double digit lead the rest of the way and led by as many as 20 at 63-43 with 3 minutes remaining.
"When you shoot 54 percent from the floor and 75 percent from the 3-point line, you would think it's a closer game," said Fullerton Coach Dedrique Taylor. "But I would have liked to see us shoot more free throws. We turned the ball over too much… usually it comes down to poor offensive execution."
Each team played without its leading scorer. Fullerton's Alex Harris (16.1 ppg) is day-to-day with a thigh contusion and has missed two games in a row. Cal Poly's David Nwaba (12.5 ppg) is ill.
Cal Poly held the lead after a sluggish first half at 25-23. Fullerton led 6-2 8 minutes into the game and then used an 8-2 run to open the second half for its final lead.
Fullerton hosts UC Santa Barbara in a 5 p.m. game on Saturday while the Mustangs visit UC Riverside.
