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Cal Poly falls to Long Beach State in fifth overtime game of year

Posted at 10:55 PM, Feb 09, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-10 01:55:42-05

Senior guard Donovan Fields scored a team-leading 23 points and sophomore forward Karlis Garoza grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds, but the Cal Poly men’s basketball team – playing its program-record fifth overtime game of the season –fell to Long Beach State Saturday evening inside Mott Athletics Center, 76-68.

Senior guard Marcellus Garrick added 15 points for Cal Poly (5-17, 1-8), which led Long Beach State (9-16, 3-6) by eight early in the second half before the 49ers limited the Mustangs to just six field goals during the final 19 minutes of regulation.

Long Beach State, which never led by more than six points in the second half once surging ahead of Cal Poly, increased its advantage to 62-59 with 89 seconds to go after forward Mason Riggins knocked down a free throw. Garrick, however, tied the matchup at 62-62 with a three-pointer with just under a minute to play.

Following a turnover by Long Beach State guard Deishuan Booker with seven seconds to play in regulation, Fields missed a potential game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer.

Into overtime, Long Beach State moved out to a 65-62 lead after a Temidayo Yussef free throw and two by Booker before Mustang sophomore wing Mark Crowe sank layups on successive possessions to hand Cal Poly a 66-65 lead.

Yussef, however, sank two more free throws on Long Beach State’s next possession to swing the lead back to the 49ers. Booker then added a three-pointer to place Long Beach State up, 70-66.

With Cal Poly forced to foul to regain possession, Booker sank six successive free throws down the stretch to keep the Mustangs at a distance.

Junior guard Job Alexander added 12 points for Cal Poly, which also received five steals from Crowe.

Cal Poly now plays just once in the next 12 days, visiting Hawai’i on Thursday, Feb. 14. Tip time from the Stan Sheriff Center is 9 p.m. PT (7 p.m. HT).

Provided by Cal Poly