TSU Tigers fall to Cal Poly 81-69 in NCAA Tournament First Four

Texas Southern's Aaric Murray scored a
SWAC record 38 points in NCAA Tournament game
Photo Courtesy: TSU Athletics

DAYTON, Ohio  -- Cal Poly outdueled fellow 16th seed Texas Southern on Wednesday evening, 81-69 at the First Four inside the UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio.

During the first matchup between the two programs, neither Cal Poly nor Texas Southern led by more than four points for the opening eight minutes. Cal Poly and Texas Southern traded the lead on five successive early possessions before a 9-2 Mustang run capped by a three-pointer from freshman guard Ridge Shipley put Cal Poly up 25-19 with 10 minutes remaining in the first half.

A three-pointer a minute later from Tigers guard Lawrence Johnson-Danner halved Cal Poly's lead, but the Mustangs responded with a 13-4 run to take a 38-26 advantage with four minutes remaining in the first stanza.

The Mustangs, who shot 54.5 (18-for-33) percent from the floor during the first half, ended up taking a 44-32 lead into the locker room.

Keyed by a lay-up from guard Madarious Gibbs and fortified with eight points by center Aaric Murray – a 38-point scorer Wednesday and the Southwestern Athletic Conference Player of the Year selection – the Tigers climbed back into matters with an 11-4 run over a three and a half minute span to pull to within 52-43.

Texas Southern, an automatic NCAA Tournament invitee after winning the SWAC Tournament championship, eventually clawed to a pair of eight-point deficits with the last coming with less than four minutes left in regulation but they were able to get no further.

"I'm proud of my basketball team," said TSU head coach Mike Davis. "We had a really good season. We were 6 and 6 at one time in the conference. We started to play really good basketball down the stretch. We won nine straight games, six games in the conference and three games in the tournament. I thought we played a really good basketball team tonight, they're well-coached."

"But I'm really proud of this team. I appreciate the opportunity. The NCAA put on a really good event here. I was here four years ago, and it was really nice then, but now it's gone to a different level as an event."

TSU's Murray set the new record for most individual points scored in a NCAA Tournament game with 38 points as he went 14-of-23 from the field.

"I think their defense was pretty good," said Murray. They didn't let me catch the ball one-on-one and they didn't let me go against their bigs one-on-one. They just played some good tough defense. Obviously we're disappointed with the loss but Coach Davis told us to keep our heads up because we had a really great season." 

Texas Southern concludes the year with a 19-15 overall record winning nine out of their last ten games.

ESPN VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

ESPN Photo Gallery: Texas Southern vs. Cal Poly

Box Score  

COURTESY TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION