The Tritons kept their season alive on March 3 with a 63-59
overtime upset win against No. 13 Cal State San Bernardino, the program’s first
ever postseason win at the Division-II level. CSU San Bernardino, which will
still host the remainder of the CCAA Tournament, finished the season as the
conference’s regular season co-champions. The Coyotes have won seven of the
last nine CCAA Championships, and were the No. 2 seed in the CCAA Tournament.
The seventh-seeded Tritons improve to 16-11 on the season and will next face San
Francisco State in
a CCAA semifinals matchup on March 7.

Head coach Chris Carlson’s squad came out firing with
three-pointers from junior forward Darryl Lawlor and senior guard Clint Allard
that put UCSD ahead 6-0 just under two minutes into the game. Those six points
would be more than the Coyotes could score in the first 11 and a half minutes,
with UCSD holding a 14-5 advantage more than halfway through the first half.
UCSD led by as much as 14 after two
free throws from junior guard Alan Husted put the score at 23-9 with under two
minutes to play. However, with 1:35
left in the half, the Coyotes staged a little run, netting seven points and
cutting UCSD’s lead to eight at the break. The Coyotes’ 14 points in the first
half was seven points fewer than their previous lowest scoring half on the
year.

“We just went back to playing really good defense,” junior
guard Andrew Hatch said. “I think that’s what we’ve lacked the last five games.
We took away their offense.”

After a first-round overtime win, UCSD will look to avenge an OT loss to SFSU on Spirit Night when the Tritons take on the Gators in the semifinals on March 7. (Will Parson/Guardian File)

UCSD again extended a double-digit lead early in the second
half, but the Coyotes used three three-pointers as part of a 17-6 run to tie
the game at 35 with 13:31 left to
play. The Tritons responded and regained the lead on a three-pointer from
sophomore guard Jordan Lawley and would extend it to as much as a seven-point
lead at both the 6:35 and 4:13 marks. However, UCSD was able to muster
only two free throws over the final four minutes, missing four chances at the
line, two field goal attempts, and turning the ball over twice in that span. San
Bernardino tied the game with 41 seconds to play after
the Coyotes’ Lance Ortiz recorded a steal, a layup, drew a foul and hit the
subsequent free throw for the old-fashioned three-point play. After two missed
free throws from Jordan Lawley and two Coyote missed three-pointers, the teams
headed to overtime tied at 54.

“I was a little bit disappointed at the way we executed
toward the end of regulation,” Carlson said. “The thing I told our guys is
we’ve been here before; we know how to play in this situation. If you’re a
competitor at this time of year, this is the fun part, to be in a highly
contested game in March. All great competitors want to be in that situation”.

The Tritons, who entered the game mired in a five-game
losing streak that included a 70-55 defeat at San Bernardino less than two
weeks earlier, trailed for the first time in the game after a jumper from the
Coyotes’ Renaldo Bass opened the extra period. The lead would be short-lived,
as Lawlor tied the game for UCSD at the line on the next possession. Lawley
avenged his earlier free throw misses with a three-pointer on the next Triton
possession. Junior guard Andrew Hatch extended the UCSD advantage to two
possessions with a layup with 2:04 to
play. Ortiz hit two free throws on the other end, part of a 9-for-9 performance
from the line, to bring the Coyotes within two at 61-59. After two missed shots
for UCSD and a turnover and missed jumper by the Coyotes, Lawlor grabbed the
defensive rebound and headed to the line with 17 seconds left to play. UCSD’s
struggles at the charity stripe continued as Lawlor missed both chances.
However, an Ortiz three-point attempt was off-line on the other end and Lawlor
grabbed his 10th rebound of the game, was fouled and made both from the line to
cap the four-point Triton win.

“We’ve never beaten Cal State San Bernardino at San
Bernardino,” said Hatch, who is in his fourth and
final season with the Tritons. “And to make it a playoff win where we have so
much on the line … It’s definitely very special to me.”

UCSD was able to overcome a 38.3-percent field-goal shooting
performance, as the team was able to hold its opponent to an even worse 35.4
percent, including 6-of-20 shooting in the first-half and just one field goal
in overtime. The Tritons also converted 8-of-17 from three-point range, while
both teams grabbed 37 rebounds and committed only 10 turnovers.

Lawlor recorded a double-double with his 12 points and 10
rebounds, while Lawley was the high scorer for UCSD with 13 points, while
adding five rebounds and four assists. Hatch and sophomore forward Andrew
Browning rounded out the Tritons in double-digits, each coming off the bench to
add 10 points.

“When we’ve had success this year, it’s because we’ve shown
great balance,” Carlson said. “We’re not a team that’s going to just go to one
guy to get 25 points a night. We’re a group that relies on every piece of the
puzzle and I think we again showed that.”

The Tritons return to action inside San
Bernardino’s Coussoulis Arena on Friday against San
Francisco State.
The Gators, seeded sixth in the tournament, also scored a 60-57 upset over
third-seeded Cal State Los Angeles. San Francisco State swept the season series
with UCSD, winning by 10 in overtime at RIMAC Arena during Spirit Night and by
nine at home in the Tritons’ regular season finale.