Box Score
POMONA -- Cal State L.A.'s men's basketball team was unable to end a lengthy losing streak against a California Collegiate Athletic Association opponent on Friday, but the Golden Eagles made sure one was put to rest on Saturday.
The Golden Eagles got an offensive rebound and basket from
Leland Jones with 2.1 seconds left and beat Cal Poly Pomona, 54-53, Saturday night in Kellogg Gym. Cal State L.A. (10-4, 6-3 CCAA) snapped a 19-game losing streak to the Broncos in the process.
More importantly, the Golden Eagles pulled into third place in the CCAA, two games behind first-place Cal State San Bernardino, which beat Cal State L.A. for a 22nd straight time on Friday. Cal State L.A. is one-half game behind second-place Humboldt State and one-half game ahead of fourth-place Chico State. Cal Poly Pomona (7-5, 5-4 CCAA) slipped into a fifth-place tie with Cal State Dominguez Hills and San Francisco State in a tightly-bunched conference race.
Carl Hoffman had a team-high 13 points and six rebounds, while
Leland Jones finished with 11 points and four rebounds.
Chris Fields also added 11 points and four rebounds.
Dwayne Falls led the Broncos with 14 points, while Mitchel Anderson had 11 points. Donnelle Booker had a game-high nine rebounds for Cal Poly Pomona.
Cal State L.A. accomplished the win thanks to a scrappy defense that held Cal Poly Pomona to just 41.7 percent shooting and, in a nice touch of irony, with an offense rebound at the end. The Golden Eagles have been a vastly-improved rebounding team this season and Jones grabbed his own miss in the waning seconds and then scored the game-winner. The Golden Eagles also held Cal Poly Pomona scoreless for more than seven minutes to erase a seven-point deficit down the stretch.
Although the Golden Eagles shot just 41.5 percent for the game, they figured things out in the second half and were an efficient 52 percent from the floor in the final 20 minutes. Both teams took care of the ball with Cal State L.A. committing nine turnovers and Cal Poly Pomona committing only seven.
The Golden Eagles made things tough on themselves with another poor outing from the free-throw line, where they made only 6-of-16, including a miserable 2-of-9 in the second half. Cal Poly Pomona wasn't much better, making only 9-of-19.
Both teams had 35 rebounds, but Cal State L.A. had a 16-14 edge on the offensive glass, including the final one by Jones that won the game.
Cal State L.A. trailed by as many as seven points in the first half, 17-10, but went on an 11-2 run to grab a 21-19 lead.
Trevor Hopkins hit a 3-pointer to start the run, which continued with 3-pointers by Chris Robinson and Fields and concluded with two free throws by Hoffman. Cal State L.A. went on to grab a 25-22 halftime lead.
The Golden Eagles started the second half with baskets by
Leland Jones, Hoffman and
Dwayne Jones to take their biggest lead of the game, 31-22, with 18:12 remaining. A jumper by Fields equaled that advantage at 33-24 and Cal State L.A. still led, 36-28, after a three-point play by
Nuno Furtado with 16 minutes to play.
Cal Poly Pomona, though, then embarked on a lengthy run and opened up a 48-41 lead with 8:50 to go after a 3-pointer by Mitchel Anderson. That's when Cal State L.A.'s defense took over and the Golden Eagles got a basket by Hoffman, an offensive rebound and basket by Hoffman and a 3-pointer by Fields to tie things up at 48-48 with six minutes left. Cal State L.A. finally grabbed a 50-48 lead on a layup by Furtado with 2:38 to go.
Cal Poly Pomona finally snapped what turned out to be a seven-minute scoreless drought with a 3-pointer by Austin Swift that gave the Broncos a 51-50 lead with 1:31 to go. Cal State L.A. came right back with a layup by Furtado -- he missed a free throw that could have produced a three-point play -- to take a 52-51 lead with 54 seconds remaining.
Fells made two free throws with 23 seconds left to give Cal Poly Pomona its last lead at 53-52, but, following a Cal State L.A. timeout with 15 seconds to go, Jones missed his initial shot and then persevered to get the game-winning basket.
Cal State L.A. will return to action on Friday with a road game at Chico State.
