LA JOLLA, Calif. ? For the first time in four games the UC San Diego men's basketball team dropped a game to a ranked opponent, losing by a 60-54 score to 24th-ranked Cal Poly Pomona on Saturday night in RIMAC Arena. The loss drops the Tritons record to 5-9 overall and 3-6 in CCAA play while the Broncos improve to 11-3 overall and 7-2 in league action.
In a tightly contested game that saw seven lead changes and six ties, it was the Broncos who made the clutch shots down the stretch to pull out a hard fought road victory. First it was Dion Cook who hit an impossible fade away jumper from 18 feet out with 3:48 to go, then it was Luis Pulido who hit a deep 3-pointer as time expired on the shot clock to give the Broncos a 55-47 lead with 1:17 on the clock.
As a team Cal Poly Pomona shot 52.4% from the floor and 44.4% from long range while limiting the Tritons to 37.0% shooting, which included a 7-for-18 (38.9%) performance from behind the 3-point arc. The Broncos also controlled the glass, pulling down 30 rebounds while UCSD managed to grab only 23.
Cook led all scorers in the contest, dropping 20 points that included 8 of 11 shooting from the charity stripe. Larry Gordon had a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double in the win for the Broncos.
Sophomore Kelvin Kim led the UCSD offense with a career-high 15 points to go along with six assists, going 4-for-5 from the floor and 3-for-4 from long range. He also went 4-for-6 at the free throw line. Senor Robby Peters netted 12 points, making four of his nine long range attempts. Sophomore Shane Poppen added nine points and eight boards.
Both teams played fairly mistake free as there were only 29 turnovers and 33 fouls by the two teams combined in the contest.
UCSD entered the contest with a 3-0 record against teams ranked in the top-25, having beaten No. 2 Montevallo, No. 4 Seattle Pacific and No. 12 Cal State San Bernardino. The win against CSUSB came on Friday evening in RIMAC Arena, snapping the Coyotes' 10-game win streak in the process.
Head coach Bill Carr's team returns to the road over the next two weekends, playing four games in Northern California before returning home for seven of their final nine games in RIMAC Arena to finish the regular season. The Tritons travel to play at San Francisco State on Friday night and to CSU Monterey Bay on Saturday evening. Both contests are slated for 7:30 p.m. tip-offs.
