Red-Hot Toros Win 8th Straight Over Poly Pomona, 74-59

They put a picture of a hot-air balloon on the media guide at Cal Poly Pomona this year with the inscription: “On the Rise.” Well, Bronco basketball has been anything but uplifting, but it hasn’t been because the team isn’t trying.

Trouble is, Pomona, missing several key players because of injuries, just hasn’t been able to play a full, hard-charging 40 minutes of basketball like most of the other teams in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.

That was the case again Saturday night as the visiting Broncos put a scare into red-hot Cal State Dominguez Hills before losing for the 10th consecutive time this season, 74-59.

Pomona is 6-16 overall. Dominguez Hills, on the other hand, set a school record of eight consecutive victories. The Toros (9-1, 17-6 overall) have won 12 of their last 13 games.

But it wasn’t easy Saturday.

“I was very, very concerned about Pomona,” Dominguez Hills Coach Dave Yanai said. “They have been playing the top teams in this conference very well. When you face a team with a poor record, sometimes at this time of the year they go into the tank. Give their coach credit; they should keep their heads up. We had a tough game tonight.”

Pomona Coach Dave Bollwinkel thought his team fared well, but “Dominguez Hills turned up the pace a notch in the second half, and we could not keep with them.”

Senior center Anthony Blackmon, playing before a Homecoming crowd of about 1,000 people--Dominguez Hills does not have a football team--led the Toros with 24 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots.

Perhaps the Toros had a right to be a bit flat Saturday night, coming off a dramatic 72-67 upset win Thursday over top-ranked UC Riverside. This was the fifth game in the last 10 days for both teams, and that might have contributed to a combined total of 14 first-half turnovers.

Pomona never had Dominguez Hills on the ropes, but it did put a scare into the Toros, who remained in first place at 9-1. The Broncos held a 46-42 lead with 13:31 to play and, although Dominguez Hills outscored Pomona, 23-9, to take a 65-55 lead with two minutes left, there was something about the tempo of this game that never really made it seem that the Toros had salted it away.

Not until Kenyatta Kalisana forced a five-second count on a Pomona in-bounds pass with 1:48 to go could Yanai take a breather.

Dominguez Hills, which struggled early in the season, has become one of the best Division 2 teams on the West Coast because of its defense. Saturday night was no acception. The Toros can afford to struggle offensively--as they did by missing their first six field goals--and still remain in the game because they can rely on the nation’s third-ranked defensive unit.

When its offense was slowed by Pomona’s sagging zone, Dominguez Hills resorted to that defense, which has held eight of its last 10 opponents under 60 points.

Pomona stayed in the game in the first half because of excellent free-throw shooting. The Broncos made 11 of 13 charity shots.

Pomona, despite three quick turnovers, mounted a 12-6 lead with 13:43 left in the half.

A pair of baskets by Kalisana and one by Robert Barksdale tied the score at 12. From that point on, the first-half lead changed hands or was tied 12 times.

There were times Dominguez Hills looked as if it was getting its offense untracked, but the Toros, thanks to seven turnovers, could never get ahead by more than three points. When Pomona’s Galen Dedmon hit a 16-foot jumper at the buzzer, it marked only the second time in CCAA play that the Broncos have led at the half.

Dominguez Hills made just four of its first 12 field-goal attempts, but for the half the Toros shot a respectable 51% (15 of 29).

Bollwinkel said he expected that Yanai would chastise his troops at the half.

“They played harder on defense in the second half,” he said.

Yanai said he told the Toros to be more patient and to work harder on defense.

The specter of an upset had hung over the Toros minutes after they beat Riverside, he said.

“We talked about it a bit after that game,” Yanai said. “We told the guys they had to focus on Pomona now.”

Robert Barksdale had 14 points and Derrick Clark added 13 for the Toros, who host Cal State Los Angeles on Thursday. The last time these two teams met in L.A., Dominguez Hills won in double overtime.

Cal Poly Pomona 77, Dominguez Hills 48--The second-rated Lady Broncos extended the Lady Toros’ CCAA losing streak to seven games with a strong defensive performance. Dominguez Hills trailed 41-27 after the first 20 minutes.

Senior center Kathy Goggin scored a season-high 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Dominguez Hills (6-15, 1-8).