Morgan emerges as Mustangs take down 49ers

Cal Poly battled back from an early seven-point defecit, built a 10-point lead, and held-off a furious Long Beach State second-half comeback to beat the 49ers 79-73 on Thursday night in their Big West Conference Home Opener.

The Mustangs pushed the tempo, shot 3-pointers at-will, and played smart enough in the end to become one of just two 2-0 teams in the conference. But the real story was Reese Morgan.

Is Reese Morgan htiting 3’s with his eyes closed now?. By Owen Main

Morgan, a freshman who was forced to sit-out all of last season with an injury, ended up having multiple surgeries on an injured knee. Though he was back on the court early in the season, he hasn’t looked fully comfortable on the court until recently. In his Big West Conference debut, the 6′ 2” redshirt freshman scored 9 points and led the team with 8 rebounds.

Morgan continued his physical play on Thursday, getting to the free throw line 10 times en-route to 16 points to go along with 4 rebounds and a number of key tips that kept offensive rebounds alive for teammates to corral.

“I don’t mind getting under people’s skin a little bit,” said Morgan. “I like to play physical. I don’t mind getting in with the big boys and being a little feisty… . I enjoy a little bit of a fist fight.”

Morgan started the season ice cold, never looking comfortable with his shot. Over his first four games, he was just 1-10 from behind the 3-point line. Over his last 8 games, Morgan is 9-18 (50 percent) from long-range and has found other ways to get himself involved, including physical defense and rebounding. A reserve averaging 14 minutes per game this season, Morgan has fouled out of three of the past eight games, coinciding with his uptick in scoring and rebounding productivity.

“As a freshman, I saw things when we recruited him, he played like an older guy,” said Cal Poly head coach Joe Callero. “He plays with a spirit, he plays with a joy, he loves the game. It’s what he wants to do. He’s overcome so many injuries and finally, for the first time, central coast fans have really got to see what we got when we signed the kid two years ago. You see him go through that and say, ‘is Reese Morgan ever going to  [come back and play well]. Well, the Reese Morgan kid’s pretty good, and we’ve got him for four more years.”

Cal Poly, 2-0 in conference play, hosts UC Irvine on Saturday night at Mott Gym. The Anteaters lost their Thursday night game at UCSB.

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Trackbacks

1. Cal Poly Basketball: What we learned over the weekend - Fansmanship says:

   01/27/2013 at 3:03 pm

   […] On Saturday, Morgan went cold too. He and Royer combined to shoot 0-10 from the field (each 0-4 from three-point range). Enter Joel Awich and Drake U’u. Awich, a redshirt freshman who didn’t see the court during Cal Poly’s first four conference games, impressed with aggressive offensive moves. His eight points and three rebounds helped to offset the lack of production from two of Cal Poly’s sharpshooters and his defensive length helped to counteract a very athletic Matador team. Senior Drake U’u has emerged too, starting at point guard for the past two games. U’u averaged 11 points, 3 rebounds and 5.5 assists over the weekend. If Awich and U’u can maintain consistent and solid contributions, then cold shooting nights become less of an issue for the three-point shooters on the team. Despite scoring zero points on Saturday night, Morgan is averaging 11 points and 3.5 rebounds per game in Big West play. Not bad for a freshman who had a really slow start. […]