By Jonathan Shone, Dec. 12, 2023
Following a triumph over Humboldt, Cal Poly Pomona’s men’s basketball team suffered a 55-65 defeat in their away game against the nationally ranked Chico State Wildcats Saturday, Dec. 2.
Ensuing the inaugural tip-off, guard Chris Gayles Jr. drilled an uncontested 3-pointer off a pass from fellow guard Bam Johnson, securing CPP’s first points of the game. Wildcats forward Adam Afifi swiftly responded by nailing a midrange jumper, but Broncos forward Michael Ofoegbu dropped in a hook shot seconds later to briefly maintain the lead.
As the half progressed, Chico State established a slight advantage over CPP, while Afifi continued to rack up conversions from the field.
Despite their assertive start, the Wildcats soon entered a prolonged scoring drought once Afifi and other starters were subbed out. The Broncos capitalized on this with Johnson, forward Jordan Carpenter, forward Brandon Porter and guard Malachi Murrell all scoring amidst the Wildcats’ offensive stagnation, narrowing the deficit to 18-19 just past the midway point in the half.
During the remainder of the segment, both teams sustained a back-and-forth of sporadic field goals and defensive stops, while interchanging turnovers and fouls. Even as Chico State regained traction offensively, CPP lingered within single digits seeking to pounce at any given moment.
With under a minute left, Porter successfully drew a charge, and Ofoegbu slammed home a putback dunk off his own miss on the next possession to give the Broncos a one-point edge. However, this proved to be short-lived as Chico State received a trip to the charity stripe, courtesy of a late foul by CPP, making consecutive free throws to assume a 29-28 lead going into halftime.
CPP faced offensive troubles during the period, showcasing inferior production in assists, 3-point percentage and field goal efficiency than the Wildcats. These deficiencies persisted for the rest of regulation, mirroring their season-long struggles in such categories. Greg Kamansky, the Broncos’ head coach, attributed these woes to his players encountering challenges with spacing the floor and shooting the ball confidently.
“You got to spread the court; let your players hopefully make plays, Kamansky said. “And if they do, you win the game, and if not, you. It’s pretty simple.”
The beginning of the second half saw modest offense from the opposing squads, but CPP evened the score within the first four minutes of gameplay. The action kicked into high gear when Broncos guard Jaden Winfield converted a 3-point play, allowing CPP to grasp a 34-31 advantage.
This was the Broncos’ final lead of the contest, as Chico State mounted a dominant 19-5 run over the next five minutes to propel them to a double-digit lead.
CPP attempted to counter the Wildcats’ momentum but struggled to duplicate their resilience from the first period. Despite having twice as many free throws and 3-point attempts combined than Chico State in the half, the Broncos failed to seize these opportunities by continuing their shooting slump, finishing the game with 50% and 11% rates in these areas.
As the end of regulation loomed closer, the Broncos crawled back into contention after a sequence of scores from Johnson, Carpenter and forward Michael Bell trimmed the count to 55-61 with under three minutes remaining. The Wildcats rose to the occasion on both sides of the floor once again, accumulating four more points and holding CPP scoreless in crunch time to achieve victory.
Adam Afifi was the highest-scoring player of the contest, recording a season-best 23 points. Wildcats reserve guard Miles Daniels registered the next-highest point total with 15, the majority of which came in the second half.
Johnson and Winfield were the highest scorers from the Broncos, totaling 11 and nine points respectively. During a post-game interview, Johnson emphasized how the team’s inability to defend Afifi and Daniels was instrumental to the loss.
“They were still doing everything that coach had on the scout (report), and it’s not like we were trying to force them to do their weaknesses,” Johnson said.
Kamansky echoed a similar sentiment, underscoring the challenge of containing Afifi within the paint and credited Daniels for taking advantage of uncontested looks. He also expressed a desire for his players to improve execution under pressure to “move their game to the next level” this season.
The Broncos returned home to battle San Francisco State University Thursday, Dec. 7, culminating in an 85-77 defeat for CPP despite an outstanding offensive performance from Johnson. After another narrow loss to Cal State East Bay Dec. 9, CPP will now bring a 2-4 conference record into their next matchup against Cal State San Bernardino Dec. 31.
Feature image courtesy of CPP Athletics
