Huskies amp up defense in second half, knock off Mustangs 77-61

David Crisp's second half offensive outburst and stout second half team defense helped the Huskies pull away for a 77-61 win over the Cal Poly Mustangs Tuesday night.

16 of Crisp's game high 21 points came in the second half, as the sophomore guard helped the offense come to life after the Huskies scored just 36 points as a team in the first half. Crisp did most of his damage from behind the arc and at the charity stripe, as he went 3-5 from three and knocked down eight of his nine free throw attempts.

The Huskies team defense suffocated the Mustangs in the second half, which was certainly a positive development for Lorenzo Romar and his young team. They had come into the game ranked dead last in the conference in scoring defense, and early on, it looked as though the Mustangs were going to have their way on the offensive end. Joe Callero's club got out to a 32-22 lead with four minutes to go in the first half, and looked to be in control of the game thanks in large part to their three point shooting, as they went 9-18 from behind the arc in the first half.

However, the Huskies were able to clamp down on the Mustangs in the second half, as the Mustangs hit just 1 of their 10 three point attempts in the second half. Moreover, the Huskies forced the Mustangs to miss 18 of their first 22 second half shots.

Markelle Fultz had a relatively off night based off of the high standards the freshman phenom has set for himself early on this season. He finished with a modest 14 points, as he hit just 6 of his 13 shots from the field. However, he still dished out five assists and pulled down three rebounds.

Mattisse Thybulle and Noah Dickerson also put together nice performances for the Huskies on Tuesday night. Thybulle scored 15 points on 5-7 from the field. Dickerson struggled with his shot, he finished just 2-6 from the field, but made up for that by knocking down all eight of his free throw attempts, and pulled down 10 rebounds. On that note, the Huskies performance at the free throw line was one of the brightest developments for the Huskies Tuesday. They knocked down 22-26 of their free throw attempts, which was good for 84.6%.

The Huskies improve to 6-5 with the victory, and will head to Key Arena on Thursday for a cross town match up with Seattle University.