Feb. 28, 2009

Box Score

San Luis Obispo, Calif. - Behind 12 points each from seniors James Doran (Cameron Park, Calif.) and Michael Kirby (North Highlands, Calif.), the Pacific men's basketball team held off Cal Poly 66-58 on Saturday, Feb. 28.

With the victory, the Tigers improved to 15-11 overall and 9-6 in Big West Conference play. The Mustangs fell to 7-19 overall and 3-11 in league play.

The victory also secured at least the No. 4 seed for Pacific in the Big West Conference Tournament from Mar. 11-14. Pacific still has a chance to finish higher, but finishing at least fourth gives the Tigers a bye into the quarterfinals of the tournament.

Despite hitting just 1-of-6 shots from the field to start the game the Tigers were able to stay in the contest with a superb defensive effort and hold a 6-4 lead with 15:33 remaining in the opening half. A three-pointer from Kirby opened the flood gates for the Pacific offense as the Tigers nailed their next seven shots to take a 20-11 lead with 10:06 remaining in the first half.

After a miss and an offensive rebound on the next Tiger possession, senior Bryan LeDuc (Corona, Calif.) hit a three-pointer to give Pacific its largest lead of the half at 23-11. The Mustangs whittled the lead down with a 20-11 run over the next nine minutes to make it 34-31, but LeDuc grabbed another offensive board and tossed it a shot as the first half buzzer sounded to give the Tigers a 36-31 lead at the break.

The second half saw the Mustangs get as close at four points at 39-35, but a quick 7-1 burst by led by the Tigers' seniors pushed Pacific's lead back to double-digits at 46-35 with 11:25 to go. Kirby nailed a trey to lead the charge, while LeDuc and senior Anthony Brown (Sacramento, Calif.) each contributed jumpers.

This trend happened again near the seven minute mark as Cal Poly closed to within one possession at 50-47, but a three-pointer by Doran, followed by another from Kirby pushed Pacific back out by nine with 6:21 remaining.

Playing in front of their home crowd in Mott Gym, Cal Poly had one more push left cutting the Tigers' edge to four at 62-58 with 39 seconds left. However, senior Chad Troyer (Seattle, Wash.) and sophomore Terrell Smith (Federal Way, Wash.) iced the game hitting two free throws each down the stretch.

Doran and Kirby were joined in double figures by 11 points from Troyer and freshman Sam Willard (Pierre, S.D.)

Cal Poly was led by a game-high 13 points from Charles Anderson and Titus Shelton.

The Tigers return to the court on Saturday, Mar. 7 as Pacific wraps up the regular season with a critical contest against Cal State Northridge at 7 p.m. in the Alex G. Spanos Center.