LAS VEGAS ? Senior forward
Shane Poppen finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds to lead the UC San Diego men's basketball team to a comfortable 62-40 victory over winless Academy of Art University on the first day of the CCAA-Pacific West Shootout held at Valley High School. UCSD held the Urban Knights to just 25.5% shooting on the way to their fourth victory in the last five games.
With the win, UCSD improves to 4-3 overall on the season, while AAU falls to 0-10. The Tritons will take on Grand Canyon University Sunday on the final day of the four-team tournament.
Playing in their first game since December 6, the Tritons showed some signs of rust, shooting just 35.5% (22-62) from the field, but their defense was the story, limiting the Urban Knights to just 13 field goals and 2-of-12 shooting from three-point range.
“We certainly didn't have our best game offensively, but I liked our effort on the defensive end of the floor,” head coach
Chris Carlson said. “We knew there would be some rust after such a long layoff, but we did our best to fight through it and we got out of here with a win. We'll come back out tomorrow and see what happens against Grand Canyon.”
Making his first start of the season due to an injury to
Darryl Lawlor, Poppen hit four of 10 shots from the field and sank 5-of-6 at the free throw line. In addition to tallying his first double-double of the year, the Thousand Oaks, Calif. native finished with two assists, a block, and a steal.
No other player reached double figures for UCSD.
Alan Husted finished with nine points, all on three-pointers, while
Kelvin Kim dished out a game-high six assists.
The Tritons jumped out to an 11-4 lead following Husted's first triple at the 13:37 mark and led 20-8 after Kim's steal led to an easy basket for Poppen in transition three minutes later.
Academy of Art scored the next six points to pull within six, but
Kirby Ruiz knocked down a three and Poppen and
Tyler Acevedo sank two free throws apiece to give UCSD a 13-point advantage (27-14) with 2:55 remaining in the half.
UCSD led 30-18 at the break and the lead ballooned to as much as 28 points in the second half. Carlson used every available player on the bench in the game and 13 of the 14 Tritons that played got in the scoring column.
The Tritons outrebounded AAU 45-36 and finished with 16 assists on their 22 field goals. UCSD committed just four turnovers in the game, a low for the season.
Weleh Dennis had a game-high 16 points for the Urban Knights.
