LA JOLLA, Calif. ? The UC San Diego men's basketball team evened up its league record at 4-4 with an 83-79 overtime victory over Cal Poly Pomona on Saturday night in RIMAC Arena. With the win the Tritons improved their overall record to 7-9 while the Broncos fell to 8-7 overall and 4-4 in CCAA action.
Senior Odioh Odiye sent the game into overtime for UCSD as his driving layup with 6.3 seconds on the clock tied the score at 72 apiece. The Tritons never trailed in overtime but the score was tied four times until junior Robby Peters nailed a 3-pointer with 27 seconds to go to put UCSD up 82-79. Odiye pulled down a missed Cal Poly Pomona shot with :03 remaining and was immediately fouled. He made his first free throw attempt and got his own rebound on the second to secure the win.
“I am proud of the way our guys played tonight,” said head coach Bill Carr. “Our crowd was great and played a big factor in the outcome. Their enthusiasm lifted our guys late in the second half and in overtime giving us that little extra edge which carried us through to the end. Our program hopes that we continue to get crowds like we did the last two nights and that they continue to support us so well.”
Both teams shot well from the floor as UCSD made 54.5% of its shots on the night while the Broncos made 56.5% of their shots. The difference came from long range where the Tritons made 7-of-18 from behind the 3-point arc while CPP was limited to only five makes in 14 attempts. Additionally, UCSD went 28-for-38 (73.7%) from the charity stripe while the Broncos made 22-of-28 (78.6%).
Sophomore Clint Allard led the UCSD offense with 19 points on the night, nine of which came from the free throw line. Freshman Henry Patterson added 16 points and a career-high nine rebounds while Peters chipped in with 13, going 3-for-7 from long range. Freshman Shane Poppen scored 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting from the floor in only 18 minutes of play.
Melvyn Nicholson scored a game-high 22 points in the loss for the Broncos, going 7-for-10 from the floor and 8-for-10 from the free throw line. Jonathan Boyd added 13 points, two assists and three steals in 23 minutes of play.
UCSD returns to action next weekend, playing twice in the Bay Area. The Tritons will play at Sonoma State on Friday night and at San Francisco State on Saturday evening. Both games are slated for 7:30 p.m. starts.
