Aggie men clamp down in second half to stop Cal Poly in Big West basketball battle

Johnson, Tamba, Sevilla lead way in 65-54 win in San Luis Obispo

SAN LUIS OBISPO - UC Davis played lights-out defense down the stretch to pull away to a convincing 65-54 win over Cal Poly in a Big West Conference men's basketball showdown Thursday night before a crowd of 1,439 in the Mott Athletics Center.

The win moves the Aggies to 4-3 in Big West play and 10-8 overall, while Cal Poly falls to 0-7 and 6-13.

Hard-luck Poly has now lost an unbelievable 46 straight regular-season Big West games over three seasons.

The Mustangs opened the 2022-23 campaign with a win over Cal State Northridge, then proceeded to drop their final 19 games, followed by an 0-20 campaign in 2023-24.

Despite opening 0-7 in league play this season, the Mustangs have been much more competitive and threw a scare into the Aggies early in this one.

The lead changed hands seven times in a competitive first half, with Poly taking its last lead at 26-24.

The Aggies responded by scoring the final seven points of the half on a bucket from Nico Rocak, followed by a 3-pointer from TY Johnson and a last-second slam from Nils Cooper for a 31-26 advantage at the break.

Pablo Tamba then had the first two buckets of the second half to push the lead to 35-26 and Cal Poly never came closer than four points the rest of the way.