After taking a two point lead into the locker room at halftime, the UC San Diego men's basketball team was outscored 14-5 over the first 4:36 of the second period and dropped a 59-40 decision to San Diego State in its season opener Saturday afternoon at Cox Arena. Senior guard
Kelvin Kim hit three triples on the way to a team-high 11 points in a losing effort for the Tritons.
Billy White scored 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting and pulled down eight rebounds to pace the Aztecs, while Kyle Spain finished with 14 points and D.J. Gay added 10.
Kim, the only player to reach double figures for UCSD, finished 4-of-10 from the floor, including 3-of-6 from behind the three point line. Senior forward
Darryl Lawlor tallied four points, 10 rebounds, and three assists, while freshman center
Christian Hatch was 3-for-4 from the field and finished with seven points in his Triton debut.
The Aztecs (1-0) jumped out to a 9-0 lead after the first 5:48 as the Tritons (0-1) missed their first eight shots to start the game. A
Casey Ryan putback got the UCSD offense going, however, and the Tritons outscored SDSU 19-4 over the next 10 minutes to build a 21-13 lead with 3:47 remaining in the opening half. Lawlor scored a pair of baskets and Kim followed with back-to-back triples to ignite the rally.
SDSU scored the final six points of the half to pull with two (21-19) at the break.
UCSD shot 30% (9-30) in the first half, while limiting the Aztecs to 28% (7-25) shooting.
The Aztecs scored the first seven points of the second period, taking a 26-21 lead following a Gay three. The Tritons responded with a Hatch baseline jumper and a Kim's third triple, but SDSU outscored UCSD 17-5 over the next eight minutes to take a 43-31 advantage and led by at least 10 points the rest of the way.
"There were a lot of positives to take away from today," head coach
Chris Carlson said. "We battled hard in the first half and I'd liked our effort early on. We just need to find a way to play a 40 minute game and we'll be in good shape going forward."
San Diego State shot 46% in the second half and finished at 37% (18-49) for the game. UCSD made 17 of its 54 attempts, 32%.
The Tritons will now head north to square off with another Division I opponent in Pacific Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m.
