March 3, 2007

Box Score

San Luis Obispo, Calif. - The Pacific men's basketball team dropped an 82-70 decision at Cal Poly on Saturday, Mar. 3 at Mott Gym. The Tigers are now 11-18 overall and 5-9 in the Big West Conference while the Mustangs are 18-10 and 9-5.

Pacific took an early lead against Cal Poly, increasing it to eight (21-13) with 9:36 left in the first half, using a 7-0 run. The Mustangs took a 25-23 lead with 5:12 left in the half after a 12-2 run. The Tigers were able to regain the lead and held a 33-29 halftime lead.

After Pacific extended to a five point lead (42-37) with 17:46 left in the game, Cal Poly took control with a 16-6 run to take a 50-45 advantage with 13:28 left and would not trail again. The Tigers cut the lead to 71-67 with 3:11 remaining, but the Mustangs outscored Pacific 11-3 the rest of the way.

After shooting just 35.7% in the first half, Cal Poly hit 17 of 24 second half shots (70.8%) to finish 51.9% from the field. The Tigers out-rebounded the Mustangs 31-27, including 10-4 on the offensive end.

Pacific was led by senior Anthony Esparza (Bakersfield, Calif.), who scored all of his 16 points in the second half. He also added a game-high nine rebounds. Sophomore Anthony Brown (Sacramento, Calif.) had 14 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore Steffan Johnson (Kent, Wash.) added 11 points and junior Solomon HorseChief (Muskogee, Okla.) scored 10 points.

Derek Stockalpler scored 16 of the Mustangs' first 26 points of the second half, en route to a game-high 25 points.

The Tigers are next in action against Cal State Northridge on Wednesday, Mar. 7 in the first round of the Big West Conference Tournament in Anaheim, Calif. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m.