SAN DIEGO, Calif. ? The UC San Diego men's basketball team suffered a 71-63 loss on Tuesday night to cross town opponent Point Loma in Golden Gymnasium on the PLNU campus. With the loss the Tritons fall to 1-5 on the season while the Sea Lions, ranked #10 in the latest NAIA national poll, improve to 6-2.

After trailing by a 35-30 margin at halftime, head coach Bill Carr's team battle back in the second half to take a 53-52 lead with just under nine minutes to play. After the lead went back-and-forth a few times, UCSD regained the lead once again at 59-58 with just over five minutes to play on a Clint Allard 3-pointer.

From that point on, however, it was all Point Loma as the Sea Lions went on a 13-4 run to close out the game as Casey Ortiz scored seven of his 11 points during that span to give PLNU the 8-point margin of victory.

Allard led all scorers on the night with his 17 points. Robby Peters added 13 points while Henry Patterson chipped in with 12 for the Tritons.

John Clark, Matt Benson and Tim Kruge all had 14 points apiece for the Sea Lions. Ortiz grabbed a game-high seven rebounds and dished out six assists to go along with his 11 points.

UCSD returns to action this weekend, playing in the first game of the Coconut Coast Classic hosted by Hawaii-Hilo. The Tritons will play the home standing Vulcans at 7 p.m. on Saturday evening. Following that contest, UCSD will take on Montreat College at 4 p.m. on Monday, December 19. The Tritons will then conclude play at the tournament with another matchup with Hawaii-Hilo on Wednesday, December 21 at 2 p.m.