LA JOLLA, Calif. ? The UC San Diego men's basketball team built a 16-point second half lead and held on for its third win over a ranked team this season, defeating 12th-ranked Cal State San Bernardino by a 69-63 score in front of 1,642 rowdy fans on Friday night in RIMAC Arena. With the win the Tritons improve to 5-8 overall and 3-5 in CCAA play while snapping CSUSB's 10-game win streak and dropping the Coyotes to 10-3 overall and 6-2 in league action.
Freshman Jordan Lawley led four UCSD players in double figure scoring, pouring in 15 on 5-for-7 shooting from the floor that included 3-for-5 shooting from long range. Sophomores Henry Patterson and Shane Poppen each added 14 while junior Clint Allard scored 13 points and had game-highs in both rebounds and assists with eight in each category.
CSUSB center Ivan Johnson led the Coyotes' offense with 19 points, most of which came inside and included three monster dunks. Marlon Pierce added 12 points while the team's leading scorer, Prentice Harris, was limited to eight points on 3-for-7 shooting.
The Tritons, who collected only 13 rebounds in the loss at Cal State Bakersfield last Saturday, out-rebounded the bigger Coyotes by a 26-23 margin on the evening while also holding a 19-11 advantage in assists.
Both teams shot around 50% from the floor on the night, but it was UCSD's touch from long range that made the difference. The Tritons made 8 of 18 from behind the 3-point arc, compared to a 2-for-12 performance from long range for the Coyotes.
Head coach Bill Carr's team has racked up three wins against teams that were ranked in the top-15 in the country at the time of the contest. The Tritons defeated 4th-ranked Seattle Pacific and 2nd-Ranked Montevallo on consecutive nights at the SPU Thanksgiving Tournament in Las Vegas on November 25 & 25.
UCSD returns to the court tomorrow evening, hosting 24th-ranked Cal Poly Pomona at 7:30 p.m. in RIMAC Arena. CSUSB travels to Cal State Dominguez Hills for a 7:30 p.m. matchup on Saturday night in the Torodome.
