MEN’S BASKETBALL — The UCSD men’s basketball team suffered a
disappointing end to their regular season, losing on the road to
and
The Otters defeated UCSD, 84-66, on Feb. 28. The Tritons then fell by a 73-64
final score to the Gators on Feb. 29. UCSD ends the regular season with a 15-11
overall mark, the program’s best since moving to Division II, and an 11-9 mark
in California Collegiate Athletic Association action. The Tritons, in a
five-way tie for third place in the CCAA, have been seeded at No. 7 in the
upcoming CCAA tournament after head-to-head tiebreakers involving the five
teams were taken into account.
Head coach Chris Carlson’s Tritons will look to end their
season-high five-game losing streak and extend their season as they travel to
Cal State San Bernardino for a CCAA tournament quarterfinals game on March 4.
After leading the Gators early twice, first following two
freethrows by junior guard Kelvin Kim and later off a three-pointer from senior
guard Clint Allard, the Tritons went cold from the field offensively. UCSD
scored only eight total points in the first
of the game, with
able to extend to a double-digit advantage. The Tritons trailed by as much as
13 in the first half before getting a much-needed spark from the bench: Junior
guard Andrew Hatch scored seven straight UCSD points, reducing the deficit to
seven. The Gators would settle for an eight-point lead at the break after
holding the Tritons to only two freethrows through the final two and a half
minutes of the first half.
Junior forward Darryl Lawlor and sophomore guard Jordan
Lawley helped pull UCSD to within two points early in the second half, with a
Lawlor three-pointer and two consecutive jumpers from Lawley, leading an 8-2
Triton run in the first
second half. While never trailing by more than 11 points through the rest of
the half and staying within two possessions for most of the game, the Tritons
would be unable to tie or take the lead. UCSD struggled mightily from the
field, shooting a season-low 28.8 percent and connecting on only 5-of-23 from
three-point range. The Gators shot just above 40 percent from the field, but
provided much of their scoring cushion from the freethrow line, connecting on
28 of an incredible 35 shots from the charity stripe.
“We did a better job of being physical than we have, but we
just didn’t always do so legally,” said Allard. “The refs called it tight the
whole way through. All you can ask for is consistency, and neither team really
adjusted.”
Hatch led the Tritons in scoring with a career-high 18
points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and 8-of-10 from the freethrow line.
Allard was the only other Triton scoring double-digits, with 16 points, while
also grabbing four rebounds and dishing out a game-high three assists.
The Tritons jumped out to an early 10-2 lead against
with Lawley and junior forward Henry Patterson each scoring four points in the
first four minutes of the game. The Otters would respond with their own 10-0
run, taking the lead at the
mark. Patterson added another layup off a pass from junior guard Alan Husted,
then recorded a steal, leading to a Husted three-pointer that regained the lead
for the Tritons. The teams would be tied and exchange the lead twice more
before the Otters went ahead for good, extending to a double-digit lead with
under eight minutes to play in the first half, as UCSD got no closer than nine
before intermission.
Trailing by double-digits in the second half, the Tritons
would again get a jolt from their reserves. Junior forward Shane Poppen scored
eight points in a five-and-a-half minute stretch as the Tritons found
themselves down by only two points, 55-53, with
remaining in the game.
Juston Willis stunted the UCSD momentum with a three-pointer that signaled the
beginning of the end. The Otters went on a 15-2 run over the next six minutes
that put the game away, with the Tritons trailing by as much as 21 in the
game’s final minutes.
“During the comeback we were getting defensive stops leading
to our offense of attacking the basket aggressively,” said Allard, who scored
eight points with three rebounds and two assists in the loss. “Once [
got a couple buckets on us, we got away from what had been successful to get us
back in the game for some reason, and we were not effective guarding the
dribbler one-on-one.”
Lawley scored a team-high 18 points and grabbed five
rebounds in only 15 minutes of play, while Patterson added 12 points and tied
Lawlor for the team-high with seven boards. Poppen scored nine with five
rebounds and Hatch added eight points off the bench.
UCSD, which was tied for the conference lead just over two
weeks ago, will now face No. 13 and CCAA second seed Cal State San Bernardino
on March 4. The Tritons and Coyotes split the season series, with each squad
winning at home. If successful in their first-round matchup, the Tritons will
advance to the CCAA semifinals on March 7, again in
Bernardino
“[Carlson’s] message was we are coming up on fourth season,
with preseason, non-conference and conference being the first three seasons,”
Allard said. “Regardless of seeding, we have to look at it as a fresh start,
where every game is the most important game of the season.”
