After a last-minute shot by the Anteaters pushed them ahead of the Tritons 61-59, UC San Diego men’s basketball (15-6, 5-4 Big West) had one final opportunity to win the game. With five seconds left on the clock, the ball was in the hands of an unlikely candidate: the Triton with a 21.2% 3-point percentage. Graduate student guard Emanuel Prospere II’s potential game-winner floated through a tense LionTree Arena, caroming off the backboard and falling harmlessly to the hardcourt.
Saturday’s loss against UC Irvine (14-7, 7-2 Big West) continues a trend of close games for the Tritons, who came into the game off a narrow 80-74 win in Davis on Thursday night. The heartbreaking loss to UCI pushed UCSD from third to fourth in Big West standings, on the brink of elimination from regular-season title contention.
The game kicked off to a strong start for the Tritons, who managed to pull ahead of the Anteaters thanks to a minute-long 7-0 run.
“Their confidence and aggression was [what I] like to see,” head coach Clint Allard said to The UCSD Guardian in a postgame interview. “When we were getting stops and running, that’s where a lot of our best offense came. That’s where a couple of those guys thrive.”
While the Tritons’ early momentum pushed them ahead of the Anteaters, UCI responded with a 10-0 scoring run that helped even out the scales. The Tritons and the Anteaters continued to battle it out, going shot-for-shot to end the first half 28-28.
“I think [the Anteaters] are unique in how they defend,” Allard said. “The reason they’re one of the best defenses in the country is [that] they make it hard, they expose some of the things where we’re going to have to get better. But we’ll be better for it the next time we play.”
The Tritons took the lead in the second half for a total of 30 seconds before their shooting game began to fall apart. For every shot the Tritons made, they missed the next, and the Anteaters responded with two shots of their own. To rub salt into the wound, an Anteater managed to dunk on the Tritons twice in the span of two minutes.
Redshirt junior forward Leo Beath went on a 6-0 scoring run in the final six minutes of the game to help the Tritons catch up to the Anteaters 57-57. UCI managed to pull ahead after two free throws, but Prospere responded with a driving layup to tie the score once again at 59-59.
With less than four minutes left on the clock, it was anyone’s game. The pressure seemed to get to them — both teams froze, going scoreless for nearly four minutes.
The Anteaters, known for their strong defense, held the Tritons to only 17 out of 54 shooting attempts during the second half. The drought highlighted the Tritons’ offensive problem: They struggled to score. Sophomore guard Alex Chaikin — who has averaged the second most points for the Tritons this season — only managed to score twice Saturday night.
“Anytime [Chaikin got] a little free, they [had] a guy waiting for him,” Allard said. “So, I think we’ll try to do some things to help him in that matchup. We knew going into the game that he was going to have to be unselfish — be a cutter and a screener — and try to free other guys up and make their jobs a little easier because they weren’t going to just let him beat them.”
The Anteaters ended the drought with a field goal, putting them ahead of the Tritons 61-59 with 28 seconds left on the clock. After an airballed 3-pointer by Beath, the Tritons had less than 10 seconds to take back the lead. Following a UCSD timeout, Prospere overlooked an open Chaikin, took the last-second scoring opportunity, and missed. With that, the Anteaters managed to clinch the 61-59 win.
The close loss underscores how much of a rollercoaster Big West play has been for UCSD this season. Now 5-4 in conference play, UCSD’s losses to lower-ranked opponents and narrow wins against teams like UC Davis and top-ranked Hawai’i seem to slowly chip away at the Tritons’ chances of defending their Big West title.
The Tritons will face off against UC Santa Barbara at home on Thursday, Jan. 29, for Spirit Night.
