The UCSD men’s basketball team followed up an impressive 66-51 victory over Cal State Los Angeles in front of a packed house on Spirit Night with a disappointing 80-60 loss to Cal State Bakersfield on Feb. 4.
Senior guard Odioh Odiye and the Tritons impressed the Spirit Night crowd with a 66-51 win.
The defeat moved the Roadrunners into first place in the California Collegiate Athletics Association, while the Tritons fell to fifth with an overall record of 10-12, including a 7-6 mark in the conference.
After freshman guard Shane Poppen hit an early jumper in the lane for the first points of the Bakersfield game, the Roadrunners tied it up 30 seconds later on a pair of free throws. The Tritons didn’t lead the rest of the game. The Roadrunners went on a 17-4 run, pushing the lead to 28-11 before back-to-back three-pointers by junior guards Robby Peters and Evan Demkiw. There was no rally to be had, though, as Bakersfield forward Antonio Griffin responded with a jumper of his own. The Tritons were down 36-23 at half and were never within 10 after the break, losing by their second largest margin of the season.
“We didn’t come out with energy., said assistant coach Andy Aguinaldo. “We’re a different team when we don’t have energy.”
Griffin led the Roadrunner attack with game-highs of 21 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks. Rice had 14 points, four rebounds and four assists, while guard Randall Harding completed the trio of Bakersfield starters in double digits with 13 points.
Freshman forward Henry Patterson was the leading scorer for UCSD with 13 points, all in the second half. Sophomore guard Andrew Hatch pulled down a team-high six rebounds off the bench, while senior guard Odioh Odiye dished out a team-high four assists to go with his eight points. As a team, UCSD was out-rebounded 39-24 and suffered from 11 first-half turnovers.
Peters, who scored nine points in the game, called the loss unacceptable, before saying the team “can win every one of the games left on the schedule.”
Although the loss hurts the Tritons’ title hopes, they showed off their skills to the nearly 3,000 fans in attendance one night before with a 66-51 victory over the Golden Eagles on Spirit Night.
“Spirit Night is a union of all six colleges, bringing them together so they all have something to celebrate,” said John Muir College Spirit Night Coordinator Lindsey Fogelman, who spent her 20th birthday as one of many fans enthusiastically cheering for the Triton squad. “Everyone has a common goal, trying to get the basketball teams to unite, fight and win.”
The preparation of both fans and the team paid off.
“Any time we can get 2,900 people in here, it just gives our team so much more energy,” said a victorious coach Bill Carr after the game. “That was probably the difference tonight. We guarded really well, and we rebounded and [the fans] are a big part of it.”
With the proverbial “sixth man” on the court, UCSD scored just 11 seconds into the game on a layup by Patterson, foreshadowing the type of game the freshman forward and the entire Triton team would have. After the Golden Eagles tied the game at two and then again at four, UCSD went on a 7-0 run, and Cal State Los Angeles never climbed within one possession for the rest of the game. The Tritons used a 5-0 run to take a 33-22 lead into the half, and then came out equally determined after the break, using another 5-0 streak to push their lead to 16 points. The Golden Eagles cut the lead to as low as eight with four minutes, 20 seconds left in the game, but with the raucous crowd and continued energy, UCSD’s lead never seemed in serious danger.
Every Triton seemed to get into the act, with 10 members of the team playing for at least 10 minutes. Sophomore guard Jason Bull provided an early spark off the bench, scoring six points in the first half, while also stealing a pass and diving on a loose ball.
“When you get a chance in a game, you’ve got to produce,” Carr said. “Tonight, I think everybody did something positive when they got in the game.”
The most noteworthy thing in the game may have been another impressive performance by Patterson, who set a new career high with 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field and 6-of-9 shooting from the foul line.
“I knew [Cal State Los Angeles] had a really big guy [6-foot, 10-inch center Micah Hamilton] who was probably going to be slow, so I just tried to use my agility and quickness to go around him all night long,” Patterson said. “Luckily, they were dropping tonight.”
Hatch, the CCAA Freshman of the Year in 2004-05, was sent to the bench to start the game, and responded by sinking all five of his field goal attempts, earning 10 points, two rebounds and two assists in 20 minutes of action.
“Coach not starting me kind of said a lot, so I just had to come and bring the intensity,” Hatch said. “Whatever I can do to help the team, I’m willing to do. Starting isn’t everything; winning is everything.”
The team-first mentality helped the Tritons shoot 50 percent from the field, while also winning the battle for rebounds, 33-31. Poppen led the way on the glass, pulling down a team-high six boards to go with his nine points. Odiye was effective in distributing the ball, racking up a game-high six assists and chipping in six points.
Cal State Los Angeles was led by forward Jontae Vinson, who had 16 points and five rebounds. Held in check most of the game, Vinson scored his team’s final six points, but was still held below his season average of 19 points per game. Guard Gene Myvett added 14 points and forward Marques Hamilton had six points, a game-high seven rebounds and four assists for the Golden Eagles.
