Cal Poly Pomona swept both CCAA Player of the week honors as senior Larry Gordon was named top male performer with sophomore Reyana Colson earning accolades on the women’s side.

Gordon averaged 23 points, 11 rebounds and 2.5 steals in two games last week. The Montclair High School product shot 57 percent from the field and stretched his streak of double digit games to 36. He ranks sixth in the conference in scoring (16 ppg) and first in rebounding (9.5 rpg).

Colson led the Broncos to wins over Western Oregon and Northwest Nazarene, averaging 20 points, seven rebounds, four assists and 3.5 steals a game. Colson also connected on 53.3 percent of her field goal attempts and was named most valuable
player of the CCAA-GNAC Challenge.

Colson missed the first five games of the season with a knee injury but is not showing any lingering effects of that problem.

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UC Riverside sophomore Kyle Austin (Pasadena, CA/USC/Pasadena HS) made his initial two appearances in a Highlander uniform pay immediate dividends as he earned Big West Men’s Basketball Player of the Week.  
   
Austin led the Highlanders to victories over Loyola Marymount and Montana after sitting out the past year due to NCAA transfer rules.  He averaged 19.0 points and 6.0 rebounds while shooting 45.5% (15 of 33) from the field and a perfect 6 of 6 at the foul line.  
   
In his first action of the season, Austin scored 20 points and added seven rebounds in a 59-52 win at Loyola Marymount.  He made 8 of 15 shots in 27 minutes of action.  Austin became only the second player in UCR’s Division I history to begin his career with a 20-point scoring effort, the other being Nate Carter (24 points at USC on November 22, 2002).
   
Austin helped the Highlanders extend their home court winning streak to six games as his 18 points and five rebounds were key to the 58-53 victory over Montana.  He played 32 minutes in that game, hitting all four of his free throw attempts.
   
UC Riverside owns a school Division I record-best 7-2 start to the season.

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The Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team went all of last season without stringing together more than two victories. So coach Scott Davis is thrilled with his team’s most recent showing.

Sophomore guard Reyana Colson scored 14 points and snagged 10 rebounds and five steals to lead the Broncos to a 56-53 win over visiting Northwest Nazarene Saturday at Kellog Gymnasium.

It was the fourth in a row after a 2-5 start.

“It feels because we didn’t win that many in a row last year,” said Colson, named tournament most valuable player. “It’s nice to get a streak started going back into conference play.”

It was a competitive, although not necessarily well played game by either team. The Broncos won despite shooting 33.9 percent from the field (20-for-59) while the Crusaders managed 37.8 percent (17-for-45). The teams also combined for 42 turnovers.

Not surprisingly, Davis was most pleased with his team’s defense which contibuted to the Crusaders’ woes.

“We made everything difficult for them,” he said. “That’s a very good team so it was a good win for us.”

The first half feature eight ties and seven lead changes and ended with the Broncos up 27-27.
The Broncos led by as many as eight in the second half, the last time coming a 36-28.
The Crusaders stayed in striking distance and finally took its first lead of the half when Brittney Roggenkamp drained a 3-pointer to give her team a 42-41 lead with 7:48 to go. It was tight the rest of the way.

The game was even for the last time at 51 with 2:29 left. The Broncos went back in front seconds later when Stephisha Walton, 0-for-9 from the field at that point, scored inside and converted a free throw for a 54-51 edge.

Cal Poly got some breathing room on a bucket by Ally Smith off the inbounds pass from Walton to go up 56-52 with a minute left and the Broncos never looked back.
Colson was joined in double figures by Smith (13) and Megan Ford (11).

Northwest Nazarene got 15 from Lindsay Brady, who fouled out with 3:57 left and the score tied at 49.

Colson, who had 26 points and seven assists in Cal Poly’s win Friday over Western Oregeon, was joined on the all-tournament team by Ford, Brady, Roggenkamp and Katie Torland of Western Oregon.

In the other game of the day Western Oregon (5-5) beat Cal State Los Angeles 76-63. Former San Bernardino Valley standout Shy Walter had 14 points, four rebounds and a blocked shot for the Eagles (1-8)

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