LA JOLLA, Calif. ? The UC San Diego men's basketball team fed off the emotionally charged 2,941 Spirit Night fans on Friday evening, cruising to a 66-51 victory over Cal State L.A. in RIMAC Arena. With the win the Tritons improve to 9-11 overall and 6-5 in CCAA play while dropping the Golden Eagles to 7-11 overall and 4-7 in league action.

Freshman Henry Patterson led the way for the Tritons with 22 points on 8-for-11 shooting from the floor. He also made 6-of-9 from the charity stripe en route to a new career-high in points. Sophomore Andrew Hatch made all five of his shots to account for his 10 points while freshman Shane Poppen added nine points and a team-high six rebounds in the win.

The Tritons never trailed in the contest, taking a quick 2-0 lead on a Patterson layup in the first 11 seconds of the game. CSULA would tie the score twice in the first three minutes of the game but never go close again as UCSD led by 11 at the break and never led by less than eight points the rest of the way.

Jontae Vinson led the Golden Eagles' offense with 16 points while Gene Myvett added 14. Marques Hamilton added six points to go along with a game-high seven rebounds and four assists.

The win for UCSD was its fifth in the last six league contests. The 6-5 CCAA record marks the first time that the Tritons have had a winning record in league play during the second half of the conference slate.

Head coach Bill Carr and his squad returns to action on Saturday evening, hosting Cal State Bakersfield at 7:30 p.m. in RIMAC Arena.