Pacific Clocks Out Cal Poly SLO, 68-57

In every game there’s a moment when the game can be seized.

Sometimes it’s obvious. And sometimes, as in Pacific’s 68-57 victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Friday in the Big West Conference men’s tournament semifinals, it’s subtle.

With 14 minutes gone in second half, Cal Poly had run off 12 consecutive points to take a 52-51 lead. Pacific’s Christian Maraker gave the Tigers the lead right back with a jump hook in the lane, but the momentum was riding with the fourth-seeded Mustangs.

On its next possession, however, Cal Poly was forced into a 35-second shot-clock violation. And the Mustangs, even after tying the score one more time at 55-55, weren’t the same team after that; the top-seeded Tigers (23-7) had regained control.

All that was left for Pacific to do was outscore Cal Poly, 13-2, over the final 3:19, and the Tigers were headed toward tonight’s tournament championship game against the Long Beach State-UC Irvine winner.

Johnny Gray led four Tigers in double figures with 18. Maraker was next with 12.

“The last three minutes our guys played perfect basketball,” Pacific Coach Rob Thomason said. “Cal Poly deserves a lot of credit.”

But Cal Poly Coach Kevin Bromley acknowledged the shift caused by Pacific’s defensive stand.

“There are a lot of key plays, and you never know where in a game things will turn,” Bromley said. “But if you get a shot-clock violation late in the game it can take the wind out of your sails. We had designed a dribble-penetration play, but they did a great job of rotating.”

The Mustangs (10-19), who trailed, 35-31, at halftime, got 19 points off the bench from Titus Shelton and 15 from Derek Stockalper.