Cal Poly holds off late Long Beach St comeback bid 78-71 (Feb 23, 2017)

By AP
Published

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) Ridge Shipley and Victor Joseph scored 17 points apiece and Cal Poly held off Long Beach State 78-71 on Thursday night to earn a split of the season series.

Donovan Fields and Luke Meikle each added 14 for the Mustangs (9-18, 4-9 Big West). Meilke also grabbed a team best 11 rebounds.

Temidayo Yussuf led all scorers with 24 points for Long Beach State (13-17, 8-6), which had won four of its previous five. Evan Payne added 13 points for the 49ers.

Both teams finished with identical 25-for-61 marks from the field (41 percent), but Cal Poly drilled 13 3-pointers to just two for Long Beach State.

The Mustangs held a 10-point halftime lead and led the entire second half, but were forced to sweat in the final minute when two Justin Bibbins free throws made it 75-71 with 33 seconds left. Joseph answered with a pair of his own to put the game away.