Senior night was full of celebrations for the men’s basketball team as it took down Cal State San Bernardino 68-64 on Saturday to earn back-to-back regular season titles and clinch the No. 1 overall seed in the CCAA Tournament.
“It’s just real special,” senior Jordan Ogundiran said. “Especially since they counted us out. Pre-season they said we would finish second and then we had a little bump in the road because we started off 7-5, but for us to come back and win 12 straight and get the championship for the conference, it’s just an amazing feeling.”
Both Ogundiran and Chris Sullivan were honored before tip-off to celebrate their basketball careers at Cal Poly Pomona.
“It has all meant a lot,” Sullivan said. “From day one, just being around a winning culture and just being a team and being brothers. I have loved it every single day. It’s been a grind.”
Things got heated early on as the refs handed out four technical fouls just four minutes into the game.
CSUSB went on a 7-0 run until Nikhil Peters was able to knock down an outside three to get the Broncos on the board.
Ogundiran dribbled his way into the paint but before the defender could blink, he hit Riley Schafer with a behind-the-back pass and Schafer drained the long three, giving CPP a one-point lead.
Off a missed basket from San Bernardino, Phoenix Shackelford secured the rebound and led the fast break down the court, where he stopped and pulled up for two inside the paint.
Shackelford finished the night with a game-high 15 points.
Immediately following, Dwight Ramos hit a nice spin move and laid the ball off the glass for an easy two.
The clock approached two seconds and Mason Dickerson launched the ball from half court and knocked it down as the halftime buzzer went off. The Broncos were sitting with a 3-point lead as they headed into the locker room.
The Coyotes were aggressive to start the second half, going on a 13-2 run.
“We knew how to react,” Ogundiran said. “We knew we had to stay calm and just keep making plays and keep making defense.”
Peters knocked down a three and on the next possession he made the extra pass to Shackelford in the corner who swished another three as he was hit to the ground for the potential 4-point play.
In less than 50 seconds, the Broncos erased an 8-point lead to cut it within one.
Ogundiran pushed full steam ahead where he threw the ball up to Young who jammed it home for the monstrous dunk to get the crowd up and out of their seats.
With the momentum on Cal Poly’s side, Ogundiran added to the cheers as he crossed his defender and pulled up for an easy two, where he topped it off with a celebration dance while back pedaling down the court. A couple clutch free throws put the game away and gave the Broncos their 12th-straight victory to end the regular season.
On the night that was dedicated to seniors, Ogundiran finished with 13 points and Sullivan had six.
“I’m just so happy for them I can’t even express it to you,” head coach Greg Kamansky said.
“The amount of effort we demand from them to give and the amount of unselfishness and giving up a lot of individual glory for the betterment of the team. I mean I just can’t tell you how proud I am of them for that.”
“It’s really special but we’re not done,” Sullivan said. “We still have conference tournament. We lost the championship game last year so we’re on a redemption tour.”
In the first game of the week the Broncos defeated Cal State Dominguez Hills 69-64. Junior guard William Christmas led the team with 14 points and Ogundiran was right behind him with 10.
The Broncos will host No. 8 Humboldt State on Tuesday night for the first round of the CCAA Tournament.
The game will tip off at 7:30 p.m.
