The UCSD men’s basketball team seems to have gotten off on the wrong foot this season, and that trend continued on the road this past weekend. The Tritons’ losses were in the double digits during both weekend games. At California Polytechnic University at Pomona, UCSD came up short 91-67. At California State University, San Bernardino, the Tritons fell again, this time 75-52.
Guardian
The Tritons knew going in that they weren’t going to have an easy time against either squad, as both are tied for first place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
The Tritons were not playing half bad against Cal Poly, leading 19-13 with 10 minutes remaining in the first half.
Then, Broncos star Lucas Lecour went on a tear, scoring 10 points in a row. He finished the first half with 18 points and led all scorers with 24 points for the game.
The second half was more of the same as Cal Poly cruised to a 91-67 victory.
UCSD has been deadly from three-point land this season, but it was Cal Poly this time around that was deadly from long range. The Tritons were only 10-26 from beyond the arc, a .385 shooting percentage. Cal Poly on the other hand was unconscious from downtown, hitting 8 out of 16.
Cal Poly was also successful at the foul line, making 25-28 from the charity stripe.
Nick Christensen lead UCSD with 13 points and Clark Goolsby chipped in with 11.
For Lecour’s effort, he was named the Rawlings CCAA Men’s Basketball Player of the Week.
“”We’re good for stretches, but we’re not competitive for 40 minutes,”” said Triton head coach Greg Lanthier. “”We’re too young.””
The story remained the same after a trip down the freeway to San Bernardino.
The Tritons fell way behind in the first half, looking at a 35-19 deficit heading into the break. UCSD made somewhat of a run in the second half, being only outscored by seven in that period. San Bernardino was just too skilled, winning 75-52.
UCSD had only one player in double-digit scoring; Erik Ramp scored 15 points in the game.
San Bernardino was guided by Michael Edwards with 13 and Chris Mattice with 12.
“”They’re just head and shoulders above the rest of the conference,”” Lanthier said. “”There’s a difference between losing to San Bernardino and Cal Poly.””
UCSD’s record fell to 2-11 overall and 1-7 in CCAA play with the weekend’s losses.
The Tritons hope to get back on the winning side of things this weekend as they play their first home games since school resumed for the winter quarter.
“”We haven’t been home in like six weeks,”” Lanthier said. “”We played our last nine of 14 games here at home. Whether we’ll win or not I don’t know, but we’ll be competitive.””
CSU Los Angeles is up for a game on Friday at 6 p.m. and CSU Dominguez Hills pays a visit on Saturday at 8 p.m.
