MEN’S BASKETBALL — After a weekend road sweep, UCSD has
moved back to second place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association
and stands only one game behind the top conference spot. The Tritons rebounded
from a slow first half to defeat
less than five minutes to take the lead for good against Cal State Stanislaus,
picking up a 75-58 victory on Feb. 2. The team now stands at 12-6 overall and
8-4 in conference play.
Despite playing only 11 minutes in the opening half, junior
forward Henry Patterson made an early impact, scoring four of the first seven
points and 10 points in the half, while also grabbing four boards. Trailing for
less than one minute of game time, UCSD led in the opening half by as much as
11 points. The Tritons found themselves ahead early due to 5-of-8 three-point
field goals and a 16-8 rebounding advantage, dominating the boards throughout
the game, with their first half total exceeding the 15 rebounds Cal State
Stanislaus collected in the entire game.
“Our defense was there the entire night,” junior guard
Andrew Hatch said. “Henry’s been doing a great job of posting up and really
clearing out the lanes. They’re doubling on him and then there’s open shots
outside. We’re definitely being more aggressive and attacking the basket. I
think that’s definitely something we kind of lost during the whole Spirit
Weekend fiasco.”
The Warriors opened the second half scoring with a
three-pointer that cut the lead to four, but UCSD built some distance after
five straight points from junior forward Darryl Lawlor. Junior guard Andrew
Hatch converted a three-point play at the 13:10 mark that extended the Triton
lead to double-digits and the UCSD defense prevented Cal State Stanislaus from
getting closer than eight points the rest of the way. Two three-pointers
brought Stanislaus within nine at 54-63 with
remaining, but a 9-0 Triton run ended any comeback hopes inside Warrior Arena.
Patterson and sophomore guard Jordan Lawley led UCSD with 15
points each, while junior guard Kelvin Kim added 13 points and senior guard
Clint Allard chipped in 11. UCSD held Cal State Stanislaus to only 34.6 percent
field-goal shooting in the second half, with the Tritons’ 38-15 rebounding edge
making up for their 19 turnovers in the game.
The Tritons started slowly against
the first 12 minutes of the game. After shooting only 1-of-7 from three-point
range to start the game, UCSD would convert 3-of-6 long-range opportunities to
end the half. Kim connected on his final two trey attempts of the half,
including one with under a minute to play that cut the
break.
“We were rushing a lot of shots [in the first half],” Hatch
said. “We just calmed down. [
guard Darroll] Phillips got off to a really good start, and so we just locked
him up. We let [guard Justin] Argenal just drive, and just let him try to score
and not let him dish off to the bigs.”
The Tritons found themselves in a nine-point hole early in
the second
points from the Phillips. Determined to end their two-game conference losing
streak, UCSD stepped up on both ends of the court. As the defense held
seven-and-a-half minutes, Patterson put in three lay-ups, Hatch added another
two field goals and Lawlor connected on a three. Following that 13-0 run, the
Tritons would not trail the rest of the game. Tied at 40 with just over six
minutes remaining, UCSD put the game out of reach. After putting up only 21
points in the first half, the Tritons scored 22 in the final six minutes of the
game, converting 15-of-19 from the free-throw line, and securing the 13-point
victory.
“We just knocked down free-throws,” Hatch said. “We didn’t
want to lose the lead. They tried to pressure us, so as soon as we got the ball
up the floor we were looking to score. We were getting to the basket, they were
fouling a lot, trying to block shots, and we were pump-faking. We just took our
time.”
Patterson led UCSD in scoring with 19 points on 7-of-9
shooting. Kim scored 13 points, while Hatch added 10. Allard scored eight
points and recorded team-highs of six rebounds and six assists. After shooting
only 29.2 percent from the field in the first half, the Tritons converted
11-of-17 from the field in the second half. The Wildcats, on the other hand,
made 7-of-24 field goals in the second half and had 16 turnovers to only 10 for
the Tritons.
“Losing those two games at home woke us up a little bit,” Hatch
said. “We were 7-0 at home and then we dropped two heartbreakers in overtime.
We really matured in those two games.”
UCSD returns home next weekend to take on No. 17 Humboldt
State on Feb. 8. The two squads are currently tied for second in the CCAA.
