After losing three games in a row at home, the Triton men’s basketball woes continued on the road over the weekend as they dropped two games on Jan. 23 and Jan. 24 to their California Collegiate Athletic Association rivals Cal State Stanislaus and Cal State Bakersfield.
Guardian file
On Jan. 23, UCSD traveled to Turlock to play the Cal State Stanislaus Warriors, who were on a five-game losing streak of their own. UCSD, however, could not find a way to pull out a victory, losing 55-52.
Cal State Stanislaus caught fire early on, up by as many as 12 points in the first half. The Tritons did not quit, however, and they battled back and only trailed by one at the end of half at 29-28.
The game was close throughout the second half. The Tritons had the ball with a chance to take the lead, when junior guard K.J. Rosales of the Warriors stole the ball and was fouled with just 16 seconds remaining. With a one-and-one free throw situation, Rosales lost his chance to extend the lead by missing on the first attempt. Rosales then was called for a blocking foul on Triton guard senior Cameron Jackson, giving him a chance to tie or take the lead for the Tritons. Like Rosales, Jackson missed his opportunity to cash in and bricked the front end of a one-and-one situation. The Warriors rebounded the ball and junior center Dave Shultz was fouled. Shultz made the most of the opportunity and hit both free throws to give the Warriors a 55-52 lead with just nine seconds remaining.
UCSD had a shot to tie and send the game to overtime, but redshirt freshman guard Adam Reinking’s three-pointer was off the mark, preserving a 55-52 victory for Cal State Stanislaus.
Senior forward Jamal O’Quinn of the Warriors led all players with 16 points for the night. For UCSD, Reinking was the lone Triton in double figures with 11 points, to go along with five rebounds. Junior forward Jesse Boyd added nine points and six boards.
After the difficult loss against Cal State Stanislaus, UCSD could not end its slide against host Cal State Bakersfield on Jan. 24 and lost, 73-58.
Playing the first-place Roadrunners (13-2, 9-1), UCSD looked for the upset but eight minutes into the game, a Cal State Bakersfield jumper gave the Roadrunners an 18-16 lead and they never looked back. The lead ballooned to 16 points at one point and the score was 39-25 at the half.
The Roadrunners could not run away with it in the second half as UCSD dug in defensively and cut the lead to 53-48 with just under 12 minutes to play.
With UCSD surging, following a time-out, the Roadrunners responded by going on a 12-0 run. Cal State Bakersfield took a 19-point lead and went on to their victory.
The Roadrunners shot a blistering 54 percent from the floor (28 of 51), while the Tritons also shot well at 50 percent; however, the difference was that UCSD only made a total of 20 field goals. Jesse Boyd led all scorers with 17 points for the Tritons.
The loss drops UCSD to 4-11 overall and 4-6 in the CCAA.
The once-promising 4-1 start in league play has been marred and now UCSD must look to turn things around next week at home against Sonoma State on Jan. 30 and San Francisco State on Jan. 31.
