Cal Poly Pomona men notch first win 77-66
By Michelle Gardner
Staff Writer
POMONA - Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball coach Greg Kamansky
insists he didn't have to rattle any cages. Sure his Broncos were
coming off a loss to San Francisco State, the team picked to finish
last in the CCAA. But he didn't think throwing a tirade would help.
It proved to be the right approach as the Broncos turned back a
tenacious Monterey Bay 77-66 in CCAA play Saturday at Kellogg
Gymnasium.
``I've done enough screaming and yelling,'' he said. ``Teams aren't
always going to respond to that. I just tried to emphasize the little
things you have to do to play winning basketball. We actually did
those things tonight.''
The Broncos recent fortunes were helped by the clutch performance
of senior guard Angelo Tsagarakis. The transfer from Oregon State hit
10 of 13 shots from the field, including a 7-for-10 showing from long
distance.
The Broncos (1-3, 1-1) had their biggest lead of the contest at
54-39 with 11:36 to go. But the pesky Otters came back and cut the
deficit to 58-54 with 6:04 to play on a free throw by D'Shon Cannon.
Then Tsagarakis took over, hitting the first of five buckets in
the next five minutes, four of which were 3-pointers. His first in
that span boosted the lead to 61-54.
``Tonight I felt like I was in a good rhythm and the good shots
were coming,'' he said. ``Sometimes I get a little too eager to make
things happen.''
Monterey Bay (1-5, 0-2) was equal to the task much of the night.
Of the nine times the Broncos connected for 3-pointers, the Otters
answered with a bucket on their end on the next possession seven
times. Four times they answered with a 3-pointer of their own.
The visitors finally ran out of answers. Tsagarakis hit his last
bucket of the night, this one a two-pointer with 47 seconds to play,
giving his team a 73-66 advantage.
The Otters missed their next attempt and Larry Gordon came up with
the loose ball to secure the first win of the season.
The Broncos shot 57.4 percent (31-for-54). Tsagarakis ended up
with 27 points with Gordon contributing 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Donnelle Booker chipped in with 10 points, six rebounds and two
blocks despite playing on a sprained ankle.
``We came out very determined tonight,'' Tsagarakis added. ``We
knew we had to come back and play with energy and play with
confidence and we did that tonight. Even when they made a shot, we
knew we were going to come back and make one on our end.''
Monterey shot 49 percent (25-for-51) with Augie Johnston netting
18 and Joe Mitchell 16. Fontana native Zach Von Pertz had seven off
the bench.
``This was a step in the right direction,'' Kamansky said.
``Before it was bad shot selection, no fluidity, no purpose on
offense. Guys were just running around out there like they didn't
know what to do. We have to build on this.''
The Broncos will have more than two weeks to get healthy and work
on their flaws, with the next game not coming until Dec. 18 when they
head to Las Vegas to face Western Washington and Central Washington
in consecutive nights.
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