LA JOLLA, Calif. ? The UC San Diego men's basketball team dropped a close 53-50 decision to visiting Hawaii Pacific on Sunday afternoon at RIMAC Arena. With the loss the Tritons fall to 3-4 overall while the Sea Warriors improve to 4-3.
UCSD, which spent all of last week in Final Exams, came out very slow and fell behind by a 9-2 margin after the first five and a half minutes of the contest. The Tritons finally got back on track and scored the next nine points to knot the score at 11 apiece.
The Sea Warriors, who held a 27-26 advantage at halftime, trailed by a 37-33 margin at the 11:51 mark in the second half before going on a 7-0 run over the next two minutes to take a 40-37 lead.
The two teams traded baskets until there was 1:21 remaining on the clock and UCSD held a 50-49 advantage. HPU got two free throws from Brandon Lee with 45 seconds remaining and another two foul shots from Mickey Wheeler with seven seconds to go while forcing a shot clock violation and a missed 3-pointer from the Tritons, giving the Sea Warriors the 53-50 victory.
Ryan Walker led the HPU offense with 12 points on the afternoon. Adam Snyder and Wheeler added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Snyder also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds and handed out four assists in the win.
Clint Allard and Robby Peters each scored 12 points for the Tritons in the loss. Shane Poppen added eight while Kelvin Kim chipped in with six points and a game-high five assists.
Hawaii Pacific out-rebounded UCSD by a 29-20 margin on the day and limited the Tritons to a 9-for-29 shooting performance from 3-point range. The Sea Warriors made five of 11 from long range and 20 of 37 from the floor overall.
Head coach Bill Carr and his team will return to action in 10 days, traveling to Carson to take on Cal State Dominguez Hills at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 20. The Tritons and Toros both resume CCAA play with a 1-1 league record.
