LAS VEGAS - Cal State Fullerton men's basketball, the No. 7 seed, fell 87-82 to the No. 10 seed Cal Poly Mustangs on Tuesday night at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas. In the opening round of the Big West Tournament, Fullerton made the first bucket of the game but that was the only lead it would have as the Mustangs were on top the rest of the way.

The Titans (6-10) trailed for 37 minutes on Tuesday as Cal Poly (4-19) opened up a 17-3 at the 13:32 mark of the first half. Fullerton would ultimately cut into the lead and only trailed 36-32 at the half. However, the second half half ended up being more of the same as the Mustangs led by around 10 points up until the the final minute of the game.

Sophomore guard Tory San Antonio knocked down a three with roughly 40 seconds left to cut the CP lead to 85-82. After getting a defensive stop, junior guard Landis Spivey had a shot to tie  the game in the corner but it was blocked out of bounds. With seven seconds left, the Titans took the ball out of bounds and found Spivey for another three but his shot was short. Cal Poly made the ensuing two free throws with two seconds remaining to secure the win.

For the Titans, Spivey scored a career-high 17 points (4-11 FGA, 4-11 3FGA, 5-5 FTA) off the bench to lead the team in scoring in 29 minutes. San Antonio tallied 16 points (6-11 FGA, 4-6 3FGA) with four rebounds, two assists and a steal. Freshman guard Dante Maddox Jr. recorded 15 points (5-10 FGA, 2-5 3FGA), two rebounds and two steals in 22 minutes. Sophomore forward Vincent Lee had 13 points (5-8 FGA) and six rebounds. Junior guard Tray Maddox, a Second Team All-Big West honoree, had eight points (2-14 FGA, 2-10 3FGA, 2-2 FTA), four rebounds, a team-high five assists, two steals and a blocked shot in 38 minutes.

Fullerton had just 12 assists on its 27 made field goals (65 attempts, 41.5% shooting). The Titans shot a season-high 35 threes (the previous high was 27 against UCI and CSUN) and made 13 of them for a percentage of 37.1. At the charity stripe, the Titans went 15-22 (68.2%). 

Cal Poly was quite efficient offensively, shooting 56.6% (30-53) from the floor, 66.7% (12-18) from distance and 83.3% (15-18) at the free-throw line. Five Mustangs scored in double figures and Colby Rogers scored a game-high 21 points.