SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - The visiting UC San Diego Tritons (6-9, 4-6 CCAA) held off a late second half rally to defeat the San Francisco State University Gators 63-58 on Friday evening in a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) game at SF State's Main Gymnasium.
UC San Diego jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first seven minutes of the game and increased that lead to 18-3 on a Kelvin Kim lay-up with 8:29 to go in the first half. Scott McLeod's two free throws cut the Triton lead to single digits (18-9) with 5:22 on the clock, but the Tritons outscored SF State 12-6 in the next four minutes to take a 30-15 lead. Alex Thomas' 3-pointer cut the Triton lead to 30-18 going into the half.
SF State (5-10, 1-9 CCAA) started the second half on 12-5 run cutting the Triton lead to five (35-30) on an Arcenio Ramirez three with 16:02 on the clock. UC San Diego followed that run with a 13-1 run of its own capped by a Darryl Lawlor three in the next five minutes to take a 48-31 lead.
The Gators once again showed its resiliency as they once again went on a run of their own, this time a 23-6 run to tie the game at 54-54 on a Ramirez jumper. UC San Diego took a 59-54 lead with three minutes left in the game, but Ramirez once again came through with two free throws for the Gators and cut the lead to 59-58 with a little over two minutes left in the game.
SF State had a chance to take its first lead of the game, but the Gators missed a jumper and Clint Allard hit a shot to give the visitors a 61-58 lead with 38 seconds left on the clock. The Gators missed two 3-pointers and Robby Peters was followed on the rebound with three seconds left and then sealed the game with two made free throws to give the visitors a 63-58 victory.
Ramirez finished with a game high 18 points (all in the second half) for the Gators, going 7 of 12 from the field including 2 of 5 from 3-point territory. Thomas added nine points and three assists for the Gators while Dean Wilson also chipped in nine points. Scott McLeod had seven points and seven rebounds off the bench for the Gators. SF State out-rebounded its visitors 30-29 and also shot 61.5% from the field in the second half.
Henry Patterson led the way for UC San Diego with 15 points while Clint Allard chipped in 11 points and four assists. Darryl Lawlor added 10 points off the bench for the Tritons while Shane Poppen had a team high 10 rebounds.
UCSD continues its current four-game road trip on Saturday with a 7:30 p.m. contest at Cal State Monterey Bay. Tomorrow night's game represents the last contest of the first half of the 2006-07 CCAA season. Following the contest with CSUMB, the Tritons will travel to Cal State Stanislaus and Chico State next weekend before returning home for seven of their final nine regular season games.
