SAN LUIS OBISPO – D.J. Posley scored a career-high 17 points and Jordan Weiner added a career-high 14, to lead UCSB to a 72-62 road win at Cal Poly on Saturday night.
Posley scored 11 of his 17 points in the second half while Weiner had 12 of his 14 in the first half.
The Mustangs had their biggest lead of six points twice in the first half. The last time at 16-10 with 11:41 to play. That’s when Weiner went to work, making three three-pointers over the next three minutes, leading a 9-2 run and giving the Gauchos their first lead of the game at 19-18 with 8:33 left.
Cal Poly took one more lead in the first half, 20-19 on a jumper by Shawn Lewis, but a 7-0 UCSB run, which included another Weiner three-pointer and was capped by a Jaimé Serna lay-up, gave the Gauchos a 26-20 lead. The lead reached as high as eight in the first half, 30-22, but was 33-27 at the buzzer.
Cal Poly scored the first basket of the second half on a short jumper by Titus Shelton, cutting the Gaucho lead to 33-29. The four-point deficit was the closest the game would be the rest of the way. UCSB’s biggest lead lead was 55-41 with 7:26 to play in the game. The Mustangs got no closer than 61-56 the rest of the way.
In addition to his career-high 17 points, Posley added a career-high seven rebounds as well as four assists and a pair of steals. He and Weiner, who both came off the bench, were forced into a more prominent role because of the absence of Paul Roemer, who missed the game with an injured shoulder.
Freshman center Greg Somogyi was also a key in the second half, scoring all of his career-high eight points in the final 20 minutes. Senior Chris Devine added eight points, six rebounds, two assists and a season-high four steals.
The Mustangs were led by Shawn Lewis who had 16 points and nine rebounds. Lorenzo Keeler and Chaz Thomas each added 13.As a team, the Gauchos limited the Mustangs to 38.2% shooting overall.
UCSB is now 8-9 overall and 2-3 in the Big West. Cal Poly drops to 3-12 overall and 0-5 in league.
The Gauchos return to action on Thursday when they travel to UC Davis for a 7:00 p.m. game.
