MEN’S BASKETBALL — “We set our goals at the beginning of the
season: CCAA Championship,” junior forward Darryl Lawlor said. “To win it, it’s
like a dream come true.”
The UCSD men’s basketball team’s dream did indeed come true
on March 8, as the Tritons completed a memorable underdog journey by securing
the program’s first-ever California Collegiate Athletic Association
Championship and berth in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division
II Tournament.
The Tritons were seeded eighth in the West Region amd will
face top-seeded University of Alaska Anchorage
in the first round on March 15.
Entering the CCAA Tournament as the seventh seed after
closing out the regular season on a five-game skid, UCSD followed an upset over
No. 2 seed and host school Cal State San Bernardino with a 72-65 win against
San Francisco State on March 7 and a 64-56 victory over Cal Poly Pomona in the
tournament final on March 8. The Tritons, having improved their Division
II-best record to 18-11 on the season, will now move on to the NCAA D-II West
Regional Quarterfinals.
“If you don’t believe you’re going to win the CCAA
Championship, then you won’t do it,” senior guard Clint Allard said. “Every one
of our guys believed we had a shot at it. On any given night, we can beat anybody.
We had the preparation and we played as hard as we could.”
The Tritons’ preparation was on display early against Cal
Poly Pomona. After
Collins opened the scoring by nailing a three-pointer on the first Broncos
possession, three-pointers from sophomore guard Jordan Lawley, Lawlor and
Allard keyed a 13-0 UCSD run. Having trailed the Broncos by double digits early
on in both of this season’s previous meetings, the Tritons held their own
10-point advantage less than six minutes into the game.
While demonstrating the sharp shooting that made UCSD the
conference’s second-best three-point field goal shooting team, the Tritons’
fourth-ranked defense was also on display, holding Cal Poly Pomona below 10
points for the first 11 minutes of the game. Angelo Tsagarakis’ three first
half three-pointers kept the Broncos close, with the third cutting the Tritons’
advantage to four with under five minutes in the half. Lawlor responded for
UCSD on the next possession, drawing the foul against Tsagarakis and hitting
both free throw attempts. Following a three-pointer from Cal Poly Pomona, UCSD
would shut down the Broncos for the next three and a half minutes, with an
Allard jumper serving as the final bucket of the first half and giving UCSD a
five-point lead at the break.
“We talk all the time about representing UC San Diego in a
first-class manner and that’s more than just winning,” head coach Chris Carlson
said. “It’s how you do it, how you play, and how you go about your business. I
think this group embodies that. They prepare to be successful. It’s just like
taking a really, really tough o-chem test. I think that’s something everyone at
UCSD can relate to, and that’s our approach.”
After scoring seven points and grabbing six rebounds for
UCSD in the first half, Lawlor set the pace after intermission with a layup,
steal, rebound and assist in the first
of the second half. The Tritons captured their largest lead of the game, 45-31,
following a jumper by junior forward Henry Patterson at the
back-to-back jumpers and a dunk from Cal Poly Pomona’s leading scorer Larry
Gordon brought the Broncos to within six points, with under 10 minutes to play.
Then a Broncos three-pointer brought the team within one possession with
responded with a layup off an assist by junior forward Shane Poppen.
Unfortunately, Lawley was called for a technical and fouled out during the next
Bronco possession, leaving UCSD without its second-leading scorer for the final
six and a half minutes of the game.
After Tsagarakis converted both technical free throws to
again bring Cal Poly Pomona within three, Gordon had a chance to make it a
one-point game from the line. Gordon missed both opportunities, and, following
a UCSD miss on the front end of a one-and-one on the other end, Patterson came
up with a steal and drew a foul. Patterson hit 1-of-2 to again extend UCSD to a
two-possession lead. Junior guard Kelvin Kim then set up an Allard trey on the
next UCSD possession, extending the lead to seven as the Triton crowd at the
Coussoulis Arena erupted into cheers. The Broncos could get no closer than five
points through the game’s final five minutes, as junior forward Andrew Hatch
drew the fifth and final foul against Tsagarakis, Cal Poly Pomona’s leading
three-point shooter, with 1:16 remaining. Lawlor, Allard, Hatch and Patterson
combined to go 6-of-8 from the line in the final minute to hold on for the
biggest win in program history.
“It’s definitely a milestone in the history of UCSD,” Lawley
said. “We’re setting a tone for future years and definitely trying to build a
legacy here. It’s big for our team, big for our confidence in the near future.
We’re really riding high right now.”
As a team, the Tritons committed only 10 turnovers while
picking up seven steals. UCSD also out-rebounded the larger Broncos squad and
converted 10-of-21 field goal attempts in each half, along with 73.1 percent of
its free-throw opportunities. The Tritons also held
leading scorer and the CCAA’s second-leading scorer, to five points below his
season average. UCSD had four players score in double digits: Patterson led the
way with a game-high 17 points and tying Kim for the team high with four assists;
Lawley added 14 points; Allard chipped in with 11; and Lawlor recorded a
double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Patterson, Lawley and Allard were
also selected to the CCAA All-Tournament Team, with Patterson named Tournament
MVP.
“It’s incredible,” Patterson said. “This being my last year
here playing, it’s do-or-die. We stepped up to the challenge. People thought we
couldn’t do it. We dug ourselves a little hole, but we dug ourselves right back
out. I just can’t even describe it, it’s one of the greatest feelings I’ve ever
had. I’m happy to win with this group of guys; we get along so well. I love
these guys.”
The Tritons quickly displayed their renewed momentum in the
semifinals against San Francisco State; a team that beat them twice during the
season. UCSD jumped out to another 10-point advantage less than five and a half
minutes in and led by 20, 28-8, with 7:17 left in the first half. UCSD shot an
incredible 61.5 percent in the first half with an amazing 14 assists on 16
baskets, while holding the Gators to below 40-percent shooting and taking a
39-24 advantage into the half.
The Gators did not go away easily in the second half,
applying a full-court press with over 13 minutes remaining and cutting the
Triton lead to five points, 56-51, with 7:35 left in the game.
“I knew that any game could be my last,” Allard, who is a
fifth-year senior, said. “I think all the seniors played like that, and the
underclassmen all had our back. Everyone that’s coming back next year, they
knew how much it meant to us seniors and they went all out.”
Sophomore forward Andrew Browning was the first Triton to
respond, completing a layup that pushed the lead back to seven. Patterson then
scored six straight points for UCSD and after a San Francisco State three,
Allard’s steal led to a Kim layup that put UCSD up by nine with 2:06 remaining
in regulation. Allard and Lawlor each scored three straight UCSD points in the
final minutes to seal the win and their place in the tournament finale.
The Tritons shot 60 percent from the field and took only six
three-pointers in the game, converting four of them. UCSD also collected 22
total assists, with Kim setting a career high of nine and Allard adding eight.
“We were on a five-game skid coming into [the CCAA
Tournament] and we just realized that we had to turn something around,” Lawley
said. “We made a complete 180 and came ready to play all three games in the
tournament.”
Patterson, the only Triton scoring in double digits with a
game-high 22 points on 8-of-10 field goal shooting and 6-of-8 from the line,
pointed to the optimistic outlook and philosophy of first-year head coach
Carlson as a big reason for success.
“Coach Carlson is just so positive,” he said. “Even if we
mess up, he’s still there, encouraging us to be better. Never gets down on us,
never negative, and I think that helps a lot in terms of player development and
confidence.”
Carlson, who left UCLA as director of basketball operations
to begin his first head coaching stint, pointed to the efforts of his senior
leadership.
“Clint Allard, Henry Patterson, Andrew Hatch, Jon Ward,
Jason Bull — all our seniors have provided great leadership, both on and off
the court,” he said. “Jon Ward and Jason Bull, they don’t play, but those guys
are good teammates and they play very hard at practice and they make everyone
else work hard. That senior group provides great leadership for us, and they
should be very proud of their efforts.”
UCSD’s next destination will be revealed during the NCAA
Division II Selection Show on Sunday evening, with the West Regionals expected
to begin on Friday, March 14.
