The Tritons came back from the weekend up north 1-1 after two close games. While WinterFest was taking place in RIMAC Arena on Feb. 28, the UCSD men’s basketball team was able to overcome UC Davis in its home gym with a jump shot in the last six seconds to win 85-84. Then, after five lead changes throughout the game, the Tritons fell seven points short of beating Chico State, finishing 89-82 on March 1.
On Feb. 28, the Aggies took over the first half, entering the locker room with a 14-point lead. At 52-38, the scoreboard did not stop the Tritons, who came out ready to play. With 7:38 left in the game, UCSD went on a run that lasted 4:22 and outscored Davis 16-3. Davis took the lead, but Adam Snyder, who had six points in the last 1:42, answered every Davis score.
The Tritons were up with 26 seconds to go until Davis’ Dominic Callori made two free throws to regain the lead for the Aggies. Then it came down to the last seven seconds, when the Tritons called a timeout after almost throwing the ball away. Following the timeout, Snyder caught the inbound pass, drove into the key and made a jumper with just three seconds left in the game.
“”I didn’t have a good angle, so I had to shoot an off-balance shot, and luckily it went in,”” Snyder said.
This win snapped a 13-game losing streak to the Aggies, who dropped their sixth-straight game, and brought the Tritons to 5-14 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
Snyder earned a double-double on the evening, scoring 28 points and grabbing 10 boards. He was 11-for-14 from the field in the game and shot 50 percent from beyond the arc.
In an evening when the Tritons recorded a 52 percent shooting percentage (60 percent in the second half), Snyder was just one of five UCSD players to score in the double figures. Sean Crawford came off the bench to score 16 points and grab five rebounds.
C.J. Duffaut also came off the bench and shot 3-for-4 from the floor, including 2-for-2 from three-point range. With five free throws, he added 13 points to the Triton score.
Center Jordan Watkins also aided the Tritons, who scored 36 points in the paint. He had 11.
Kyle Moyneur also contributed 10 points and seven rebounds.
“”We are a team of shooters, so we knew if we kept putting them up, they would eventually drop. We just went out and shot aggressively in the second half and it paid off,”” Snyder said.
In Chico on March 1, the Tritons lead in the first half was 47-41. However, Chico mounted a comeback in the second half to win the game 89-82.
UCSD again had five men who scored in the double digits. Crawford led the team off the bench with 17 points.
Duffaut posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Matthew Sweeny had 11 points and six rebounds.
Adding 10 points each to the Triton score were Snyder and Cameron Jackson.
Shooting 45.9 percent in the game, UCSD’s defense simply could not contain Chico’s high scorers. Scott Land came off the bench to sink 24 points for the Wildcats.
On March 7 and March 8, UCSD returns to RIMAC Arena for its last two home games of the season against San Francisco State and Sonoma State.
