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Game 1: Cal Poly 69, UC Santa Barbara 38
Yes, you read that score correctly: Cal Poly utterly humiliated the rival Gauchos in the first game of the quarterfinals. UC Santa Barbara opened the game with a 7-0 run, and closed the game with a 5-0 AND GOT OUTSCORED 69-26 IN 35 MINUTES OF BASKETBALL.
Alan Williams was held to 14 points and 10 rebounds in 32 minutes of play. He fouled out of the game with over 6 minutes left to play in the game. Michael Bryson was the leading scorer for the Gauchos with 19 points. The rest of the team combined for 5 points total.
Ridge Shipley came off the bench for the Mustangs to score 15 points, while Joel Awich and Dave Nwaba scored 11 points each. The Mustangs went 17-20 from the charity stripe, missing almost as many free throws as UC Santa Barbara attempted (0-4).
Bryson summed the game up best in his post-game interview: "They punked us, offensively and defensively the entire game and we didn't respond."
Cue Ashton Kutcher.
Game 2: Long Beach State 66, Cal State Fullerton 56
Four 49ers reached double-digit figures as Long Beach State came from behind to beat Cal State Fullerton handily. Alex Harris, the sophomore transfer from Northeastern, made a jumper giving the Titans a 43-39 lead. 25 seconds later, Travis Hammonds hit a 3-pointer to close the lead to one point, and from then on it was all 49ers.
Hammonds, Mike Caffey, Tyler Lamb and A.J. Spencer scored 12, 14, 13 and 10 points respectively. For the Titans, Harris scored 17 points and Michael Williams, the Big West Newcomer of the year, contributed 10 points.
Game 3: UC Irvine 63, UC Riverside 43
The Anteaters had no problem disposing of their UC rivals in the third game of the night. Mamadou Ndiaye broke another record in his fantastic freshman year, accumulating 4 blocks to set the single-season Big West record with 98, previously set by Pacific's Michael Olowokandi in 1998. Just a hunch, but I don't think he's finished yet, and even though we may never see him touch David Robinson's record, he should be able to breach the top-25 all-time for a season entry.
Nick Gruninger was the only Highlander to hit double figures in scoring with 10 points. For the Anteaters, Will Davis II led the way with 16 points, followed by Big West Freshman of the Year Luke Nelson scoring 14 points.
Sam Finley did not play for the Highlanders because he was out with an injury from the regular season finale.
Game 4: Cal State Northridge 83, Hawaii 81
In this extremely high-scoring affair, the Matadors sank a 3-point shot with 16 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. From there, Josh Greene scored 7 of Northridge's 13 points in overtime to lead the Matadors to victory.
Cal State Northridge led this game 30-14 with 8:12 left in the first half, but Hawaii charged back with Christian Standhardinger leading the Rainbow Warriors.
Standhardinger led Hawaii with 28 points and 9 rebounds, followed by Keith Shamburger and Brandon Spearman with 20 and 17 points respectively.
For the Matadors, Greene led the scoring with 27 points, followed by Stephan Hicks (21 points) and Aaron Parks (13 points). Stephen Maxwell was unusually quiet with only 9 points and 9 rebounds.
Cal Poly will now have the task of stopping UC Irvine in the early game tomorrow (6:30 PM Pacific Time on ESPN3) while Long Beach State and Cal State Northridge will meet again for the second time in a week (9:00 PM Pacific Time on ESPNU).