Broncos going for first title
Cal Poly Pomona wasn’t ready to make the long flight home just yet.
The Broncos are on a mission to win an NCAA Division II national championship, and they moved within 40 minutes of that goal with a 71-63 victory over Bentley in a riveting national semifinal at the MassMutual Center late Thursday night.
Cal Poly (27-6) will play No. 2 Indiana (Pa.) in the championship game at 10 a.m. PDT Saturday. It will be televised live on CBS.
The unranked Broncos will be gunning for their first national title. A year ago, they lost, 56-53, in overtime to Findlay (Ohio) in the championship game.
“This is a credit to our entire team,” senior guard Dahir Nasser said. “We had to work together all year to make this work. It means everything to us that we are playing for a championship.”
Cal Poly shifted the momentum of this tight battle by relying on another stellar defensive effort. The Broncos are giving up just 56.1 points per game and held the Falcons to 13 points in the final 10 minutes.
The score was tied at 50-50 before the Broncos turned up the pressure and took the firepower away from a talented Bentley offense that included Division II National Player of the Year Jason Westrol.
The Broncos, who set a school record for wins in a season, held the Falcons (26-7) to three field goals in the final 6:45 of the game.
The Broncos got a huge lift from senior guard Austin Swift, who poured in 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Nasser and Tobias Jahn scored 11 points apiece. Mitchel Anderson added 10 points.
Get our high school sports newsletter
Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
