The Tritons beat two California Collegiate Athletic Association rivals on the road by double-digit margins over the weekend, building momentum as they head into the final stretch of the regular season, which will include seven home games out of the final nine. But aside from the similar final scores, the two games were opposite in nature.
On Feb. 2, the Tritons battled Cal State Stanislaus through four incredible overtime periods, using a 17-4 margin in the final period to score the 116-103 victory.
The Tritons showed they still had something in the tank Feb. 3, never trailing Chico State en route to a 69-54 win. With the weekend sweep, UCSD improved its overall record to 8-10 overall, 6-7 in conference play.
Staunch defense was in full force against Chico State, limiting the Wildcats to only seven first-half field goals, including no jump shots or three-pointers. UCSD scored the first shot of the game and would allow only one tie early in the first half, building a 12-point lead and taking a 10-point advantage into the intermission.
The Wildcats were able to generate a little more offense in the second half, but UCSD kept up by making 48 percent of its field goal attempts and 15 of its 18 free-throw attempts. The Triton lead was never lower than eight and increased to as much as 16 with eight minutes left in the game. The Wildcats, hounded all night by UCSD, did not convert on their first jump shot until two minutes, 28 seconds left in the game as the Tritons successfully avenged their home opener loss.
“”We took away all the shooters and did not let their point guard penetrate and draw defenders,”” junior guard Clint Allard said of the Triton defensive pressure. “”After they were not getting many open looks, I think they became tense on every jumper, and those are hard to make.””
Neither team made a three-pointer in the game, particularly surprising for a UCSD team that averages over six three-pointers. Four Tritons scored in the double digits, led by 16 points from sophomore forward Henry Patterson. Sophomore guard Shane Poppen added 14 points and a team high of seven rebounds and two blocks in 22 minutes off the bench.
Cal State Stanislaus built an early 7-0 lead against UCSD, but 11 points from four different players gave UCSD a one-point lead four and a half minutes into the game. The two teams would change the lead eight more times, and tie nine times during the rest of the first half, with the Warriors taking a 35-34 advantage into the break.
The Warriors protected that lead in the second half, building their advantage to as high as eight. Down five with 3:15 left on the clock, UCSD held the Warriors to only one basket made through the rest of the game. Even with the stifling defense, the game-tying shot didn’t come until 50 seconds were left in the game, when senior guard Robby Peters hit a jumper to send the game to its first overtime after a 72-72 tie at the end of regulation.
Neither team led by more than two in the first overtime and both remained scoreless in the last 54 seconds to send the game to the second overtime.
In the second extra period, the Tritons were up by four after two Lawley free throws with 2:18 to play, but the Warriors would battle back and take a 90-88 lead on a jumper with seven seconds to play.
UCSD responded as sophomore guard Kelvin Kim grabbed a rebound and hit a jumper with two seconds remaining, sending the game to a third overtime. There, the Tritons found themselves down again, 96-99, with only 13 seconds in regulation and in need of another clutch effort. Kim took a three for the tie that bounced off the back of the rim and was rebounded by Peters.
Peters, who grabbed eight rebounds in the game, was hot on three-pointers, and abstained from his staple shot with two defenders headed his way. Instead, UCSD’s lone senior found sophomore guard Alan Husted open behind the arc, who knocked down the shot, sending UCSD to the first quadruple-overtime game in the program’s history.
“”The whole possession was a whirlwind,”” Allard said of the final seconds in the third overtime. “”Alan showed great confidence knocking it down, and momentum swung to our side as you could see the shoulders slump from the Stanislaus players.””
That momentum led to a dominant 17-4 run by the Tritons in the fourth overtime to secure the win and the season sweep of the Warriors.
Kim, playing in a UCSD record time of 55 minutes, scored a career-high 23 points to lead six Tritons who scored in double figures. Lawley and Husted also notched career highs with 21 and 11 points, respectively.
“”Hopefully, these two wins will be the spark we needed to get the winning streak, which we’ve all been waiting for, going,”” said Patterson, who added 14 points and five rebounds despite foul trouble limiting his time on the court.
The Tritons will next host Cal State Dominguez Hills on Feb. 6.
