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The Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team, coming off an appearance in the NCAA national championship game a year ago, is ranked No. 4 in the 2009-10 Division II Bulletin Preseason Top 25 poll that was released this week.

The ranking comes a day after the Broncos received a No. 9 ranking by The Sporting News.

Cal Poly Pomona, which finished last season 25-8 and played for the national title in Springfield, Mass., earned its first preseason ranking since opening the 2005-06 season No. 15 (NABC) and 13th (Division II Bulletin).

Cal Poly Pomona, tied Cal State San Bernardino and Cal State Dominguez Hills for the regular-season California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) title last season.

The Broncos are led by first team All-CCAA senior guard Austin Swift and second team All-CCAA junior forward Tobias Jahn.

BYU-Hawaii, which concluded the 2008-09 season with a 27-2 record and return two All-Americans, is ranked No. 1 in the poll. Findlay is No. 2 and is followed by Soutwest Baptist, Cal Poly Pomona and Bellarmine, which rounds out the Top 5.

San Francisco State will be the first CCAA team to get its 2009-10 season underway when it takes part in the Disney Tip-Off West Coast Classic that begins Oct. 30 in Anaheim.

2009-10 Division II Bulletin Preseason Top 25 Poll

1. BYU-Hawaii
2. Findlay
3. Southwest Baptist
4. Cal Poly Pomona
5. Bellarmine
6. Tusculum
7. Merrimack
8. Augusta State
9. Florida Southern
10. Bentley
11. Valdosta State
12. Southwest Minnesota
13. Metro State
14. Central Missouri
15. Winona State
16. Kutztown
17. Central Oklahoma
18. Grand Valley State
19. Philadelphia
20. Northern Kentucky
21. Delta State
22. Rollins
23. J.C. Smith
24. West Virginia State
25. Incarnate Word

By Michelle gardner

Staff Writer

Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball coach Greg Kamansky is just now catching his breath.
A whirlwind two weeks included playoff games in three different time zones and ended with a 56-53 overtime loss to Findlay (Ohio) in the Division II national championship game in Springfield, Mass., last Saturday.

The Broncos (25-8) returned on Sunday and celebrated with the student body on Thursday. Now, Kamansky is focused on recruiting. But you won't find him complaining.

"It has been an unbelievable experience," he said. "You think of the number of teams that play college basketball and very few get a chance to play for a national championship. And to think how far we went and the obstacles we overcame to get there. It is even more rewarding."

The Broncos are graduating four seniors, the key ones being All-American Larry Gordon and third-leading scorer Walter Thompson.

Before the team left for the Elite Eight, Kamansky stopped short of calling Gordon the best player to come out of the program. He didn't hesitate when asked again.

Gordon finished as the school's all-time leading rebounder and second-leading scorer behind only Jeff Bonds. He also finishes ranked second in field goals (527), second in free throws (385), third in games played (116), fifth in steals (133), seventh in blocks (52) and 10th in 3-point field goals (94).

What sets him apart from the other four All-Americans the school has produced is his showing in the postseason. He averaged 22 points and 11.3 rebounds and shot 67.6 percent from the field in the run.

"His legacy is complete," Kamansky said. "Big-time players step up in big-time games. He did it on the national stage."

Kamansky admits it will be hard to replace his most recent All-American. But the one thing the Broncos will have is a solid nucleus of veterans returning.

Last year Gordon was the only starter back. The Broncos will be set in the front court, returning Dwayne Fells, who started 18 games this season as a true freshman, as well as sophomore forward Tobias Jahn (9.4 ppg, 5.5 rpg), who came into his own over the second half of the season.

They will also have Kevin Ryan, the team's top recruit last year who had to redshirt because of a knee injury. They also landed an early signee in Justin Herold, a 6-foot-7 power forward out of Carrillo High School in Santa Rosa.

The core of other returning players will include second-leading scorer Austin Swift (10.2 ppg, 5.1 rpg), heady point guard Dahir Nasser (5.7 ppg, 2.7 apg) and much-improved reserve Robert Summers (7.1 ppg).

Cajon graduate Donnelle Booker will also be back in the fold. He sustained a season-ending knee injury in October and will be the most seasoned player in the program. The coach is hoping he can provide the same veteran leadership Gordon did.

Kamansky said the biggest need right now is in the backcourt. The Broncos typically carry fewer players than most teams but are looking for three or four more players.

"I like what we'll have coming back," he said. "Yes, we're losing Larry, but we have guys that have actually played together, which is unlike last year. A couple more guards and we'll be set.

"This is a great experience to build on."

By Jeff Thomas

Correspondent

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Oh, for a few more seconds on the clock.
The remarkable run of the Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team came to a sudden and shocking end Saturday afternoon at the MassMutual Center when senior guard Tyler Evans drained a fadeaway 3-pointer at buzzer in overtime to give the University of Findlay the NCAA Division II national championship.

Cal Poly Pomona fought back from a 14-point second-half deficit, only to go down 56-53 to Oilers, who concluded a perfect season at 36-0 and was ranked No. 1 wire-to-wire.

"We put ourselves in position to win the game, but tonight we didn't do it and they did," Cal Poly Pomona coach Greg Kamansky said. "We feel proud of the fact that we put ourselves in position and could have won it."

The Broncos (25-8), who won 16 of their last 17 to get to this point and had traveled more than 10,000 miles in the NCAA tournament - with another 3,000 or so more to come Sunday - were the feel-good story of the tournament.

That storybook ending almost came to fruition, but a well-guarded Evans picked that point in time to make his only field goal of the afternoon.

"I think it was good defense but he hit a tough shot," Broncos senior guard Walter Thompson said. "You can't ask for any better defense out of Dahir (Nasser). It was good pressure and he had his hand in his face. He made a tough shot."

The game was tied at 53-53 after senior All-American Larry Gordon hit a 15-foot jumper with 12.5 seconds left. There was a held-ball call under Cal Poly's basket with 2.4 seconds left. Findlay's Marcus Parker inbounded the ball from the baseline to Evans, who was already a step behind the 3-point arc.

Evans took a dribble back and to his left before taking the shot that swished through the basket 25 feet away and left Nasser on his knees and holding his head in disbelief.

"We were concerned with the inbounder getting the ball back for a quick three, so they got the ball to (Evans) and he kept backing up and backing up and throws a fadeaway three from God knows how many feet," Kamansky said. "The guy hit a great shot, give him some credit. That's part of the game of basketball. Win some, lose some."

It was the second overtime win of the Elite Eight for Findlay, and just the fourth overtime championship game in Elite Eight history.

"I can't express the feeling that we have winning this game the way it was won with that unbelievable last-second shot, the way we've won the last four of our games," Findlay coach Ron Niekamp said. "It's an incredible feeling and it's also a feeling that someone up there is looking out for you when you win four like that."

The game had the look of a rout for a while, the Oilers taking a 30-20 halftime lead and pushing that lead to as many as 14 with 16:25 left in the game.

"At that time I called timeout and was pretty fired up and said you're not going down like this," Kamansky said. "I just told our guys we've done it all year and this is not the way we were gonna go down, getting beat handily.

"We got a couple of nice plays and hit a couple of nice shots and next thing you know we got our confidence going and we knew we could play with these guys," he added.

Gordon, who scored a game-high 17 points, scored on a reverse layup, followed by a Robert Summers 3-pointer. Tobias Jahn (14 points) scored at the rim and Summers made two foul shots. After Gordon scored on a drive to the basket, Jahn scored from the baseline to complete the 13-0 run and get the Broncos within one, 36-35.

After Bostic scored on a putback, Thompson hit a 3-pointer and the game was tied with 7:05 to play.

Both teams had opportunities to win in the closing minutes but neither could capitalize.
In overtime it was much of the same, the lead changing five times before Evans hit his heroic shot to end an incredible season for the Broncos.

"This will sting for a while but we'll look back in a little bit and say what a great season this was for this team," Kamansky said. "I can't tell you how proud I am of these guys. Digging in game after game after game. We've won a lot of these overtime games.

"This season I'll take and there's probably 300 coaches in Division II who would take this," he added. "There's only one coach that wouldn't and that's the coach of Findlay."

The National Association of Basketball Coaches announced their all-West Region team in NCAA Division II and Brown was voted to the first team and Montgomery to the second team.

Brown, a 6-7 postman who was all-CCAA conference first-team, the CCAA's newcomer of the year and MVP of the CCAA tournament, is now eligible to be considered for the NABC all-America teams that will be announced at the Elite Eight in Springfield, Mass later this month.

Earlier last week, Brown was voted by sports information directors in the West Region to the Daktronics all-West Region first team.

Montgomery, a 6-foot guard, was an all-CCAA first-team selection.

Joining Brown on the NABC all-region first team were Larry Gordon of Cal Poly Pomona, Lucas Alves of BYU-Hawaii, Michael Hernandez of Cal State Dominguez Hills, Ira Graham of Western Washington and Jake Linton of Saint Martin's.

Along with Montgomery, the other second-teamers on the NABC all-star teams were Jerrell Smith of CSU Dominguez Hills, Zac Tiedeman of Humboldt State, Matt Penoncello of Central Washington, Kenny Barker of Alaska Anchorage and Jay DeMaestri of Hawaii Hilo.

Greg Kamansky of Cal Poly Pomona was voted coach of the year by the NABC.

Brown led the CCAA in scoring at 21.5 points per game, was No. 3 in rebounding at 8.7 rebounds per game, No.4 in field goal percentage (56.0), No. 1 in blocked shots (39 - 1.7/game) and No. 1 in offensive rebounds per game (2.8). He was the team leader in all those categories.

Montgomery was No. 6 in the CCAA in scoring (14.3 ppg), No. 12 in field goal percentage (49.8), No. 9 in assists (3.1/game), No. 7 in 3-point FG percentage (40.7). He led the team in assists (94) and averaged 2.4 rebounds a game and shot 75 percent from the foul line.

The Cal State San Bernardino men's basketball team escaped - again.

The Coyotes slipped past longtime nemesis UC San Diego 76-72 in a CCAA Tournament semifinal Friday night to earn a spot in tonight's 7:30 p.m. title game against unheralded Cal State Monterey Bay (16-13).

The Coyotes (19-9) nipped Sonoma State 79-77 in Tuesday's
quarterfinal and coach Jeff Oliver is pleased to see his team start knocking down some shots at crunch time, something it had trouble with earlier in the season.

``We're making the most of our opportunities and taking advantage of some mismatches," Oliver said. ``I think it's a matter of our guys better understanding their roles and feeling more comfortable in the offense. It's good to see.''

The Coyotes led by as many as 11 in the second half, that lead coming at 62-51 with 8:45 left. But the Tritons (17-11) came back as they always do. San Diego evened the game at 67 on a baseline drive by Shane Poppen, who surged past defender Brandon Brown, playing it safe after being called for his fourth foul.

The game was tied again at 70 with 1:40 to play. The Coyotes got a fadeaway jumper from Tim Denson to go up 72-70 with 1:13 left. The Tritons failed to answer as Kelvin Kim missed an open look from the top of the key, his favorite shot.

 Cal State's Devin Montgomery scrambled for the rebound with 45 seconds left and sank a pair of free throw to up the lead to four, 74-70.

Montgomery was at the line twice more and delivered two with 18.2 seconds left and one of two later to seal the outcome.

``I was just trying to relax and make them,'' Montgomery said. ``I
was in that position before and didn't come through. I wasn't really thinking about it, but I was thinking about it. I didn't want to fail in that position again.''

The Coyotes, ranked seventh in the West Region, shot 57.4 percent (27-for-47) from the field with Brown's 22 leading the way. Montgomery and Denson contributed 15 and 13 respectively. DuBois Williams had a steady game with eight points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.

San Diego came in needing to win the tournament to advance to the West Region Tournament, something it did last year. The Tritons got 24 from Jordan Lawley and 16 each from Alan Husted Poppen.

The Coyotes entered the tournament seeded third despite claiming a share of the regular season title for the eighth time in 10 years. Monterey Bay was the seventh seed but it upended No. 2 Cal State Dominguez Hills on Tuesday, then followed with an ugly-but-effective win over the top-seeded Broncos.

Cal State swept both regular season meetings against the Otters.

``That's going to be another tough one,'' Oliver said. ``They play
hard and don't quit and they have the momentum right now.''

It looks like Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball coach Greg Kamansky will be the one getting the last laugh.

He is the first to admit his team hardly looks imposing when it takes the court for pregame warmups. He has been down to eight players for much of the year and those eight don't look like the most athletic bunch.

But the Broncos (19-6, 15-5) finished tied for first in the CCAA with more physically imposing teams from Cal State San Bernardino (17-9, 15-5) and Cal State Dominguez Hills (21-6, 15-5).

Cal Poly got the tiebreaker and will enter this week's CCAA Tournament as the top seed. It will host No. 8 San Francisco State (14-13, 8-12) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Kellogg Gymnasium. Friday's semifinals and Saturday's championship game will be at Coussoulis Arena on the campus of Cal State San Bernardino.

"It's actually pretty funny," Kamansky said. "We're out there with our seven, eight guys and we're clanking shots all over the place. Other coaches are laughing at us. Fans are laughing at us. I know. I've seen it."

Six weeks ago the Broncos were in desperation mode. They were 9-6 overall and 5-5 in conference play. Kamansky was just hoping to get in the conference tournament. He never imagined being the top seed. But the Broncos swept the back half of their schedule, a significant feat in such a depp conference.

They will head into Tuesday's game riding a 10-game win streak.

"It just goes to show what can happen when you have good team chemistry and guys believe in the system and their teammates," Kamansky said.

The Broncos are led by senior Larry Gordon (14 ppg, 10.3 rpg), a mainstay in the lineup for his four years. Austin Swift (10.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg) and Walter Thompson (11.6 ppg) have emerged as good complimentary players.

But Kamansky credits the team's hot streak up to the improved play of his young post players - true freshman Dwyane Fells (5.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg) and sophomore Tobias Jahn (8.7 ppg, 5.4 rpg).

"They have given us a presence in the paint we didn't have early on" he said. "It adds another dimension to this team."

While the Broncos have pretty much clinched a spot in the West Region tournament no matter how they fare this week, they still have something to play for.

They are currently ranked third in the region and could move up to second since No. 2 Dominguez Hills lost last week.

If they can finish second they would likely host a four-team sub-regional if the NCAA decides to use that format rather than the traditional eight-team regional at one site.

"Who would have thought?" Kamansky sighed.

CAL POLY WOMEN GET CHICO STATE

The men's game will follow the 5:30 p.m. women's game as coach Scott Davis' team also earned a home game.

The No. 4 seeded Broncos (16-13, 12-8) will host No. 5 Chico State (15-12, 11-9). The teams split during the regular season with each winning on its home floor.

On the season the Broncos are 9-3 at Kellogg Gymnasium.

Unlike the Cal Poly men, the women need a big effort in the tournament. They currently sit eighth in the West Region, despite having two wins over No. 6 Dominguez Hills and one over No. 7 Northwest Nazarene.

"I think we need to win it to get in even though we have those wins over teams ahead of us," Davis said.

UC San Diego (26-3, 19-1) is the top seed but Davis is most leery of No. 2 Humboldt State (21-6, 16-4) which has won eight straight games.

"They are playing the best right now and they have a lot of weapons," he said.

For the Cal State San Bernardino men's basketball team the task is simple -- win the CCAA tournament or the season is over.

The Coyotes (17-9, 15-5) painted themselves into a corner with losses to Cal Poly Pomona and UC San Diego. Now, there is no margin for error.

The Coyotes open play in the CCAA tournament at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Coussoulis Arena against Sonoma State (12-15, 8-12), with whom they split during the regular season.

The good news for coach Jeff Oliver's team is that Friday's semifinals and Saturday's finals will also be at Coussoulis, where the team is 10-1 this season.

Cal State is ranked 10th in the region and needs to be eighth to secure a spot in the West Region tournament. There are a half a dozen teams in the hunt for the last few spots, a couple of whom are playing in the CCAA event.

The winner of the CCAA tournament gets the conference's automatic playoff bid.

"We need to win at least two and even that leaves room for doubt," Oliver said. "We're going in with the mindset that we have to win three."

The Coyotes were part of a three-way tie for first with Cal Poly Pomona (19-6, 15-5) and Cal State Dominguez Hills (21-6, 15-5), giving them at least a share of the conference title for the eighth time in 10 years. But the seeding for the tournament came down to a third tiebreaker.

The Broncos, who will host San Francisco State (14-13, 8-12) in an opening-round game, were 2-0 against Cal State Los Angeles (the ninth-place team and the best of the teams that didn't make the tournament) compared to Cal State Dominguez Hills' 1-1 mark against the Golden Eagles.

The Coyotes were made the third seed based on their 9-5 record against tournament teams. Both Pomona and Dominguez Hills had 10-4 marks.

That logic mystifies Oliver.

"You're rewarding Dominguez and Pomona for losing to teams that are the bottom of the barrel, that didn't make the tournament. That doesn't make sense," he said.

While Sonoma State has played the Coyotes tough, it has not had an answer for big man Brandon Brown (20.6 points per game, 8.9 rebounds), who has scored 45 points in the two games against the Seawolves and is coming off a 32-point showing against San Francisco State on Friday.

"He has been dominant," Oliver said. "He has had head on straight and doing a better job of not letting adversity get to him."

Cal State women headed south

The Cal State women will need to repeat their upset of two weeks ago to get another home game as they will play their CCAA tournament opener at RIMAC Arena against top-seeded UC San Diego (26-3, 19-1), which also comes in ranked ninth nationally.

Coach Kevin Becker's team, finishing in a three-way tie for sixth, was last in the pecking order when it came to the tiebreaker, so it was left with the eighth seed.

The Coyotes (10-16, 8-12) were the only conference team to beat the Tritons, doing so 64-59 on Feb. 14, behind the scoring punch of unheralded players Lisa Takata and Ana Onaindia.

"Obviously, they're going to be ready for us," Becker said. "We're going to have to play even better than we did the last time we played them."