LA JOLLA, Calif. ? Trailing by one with just under seven minutes to play, the UC San Diego men's basketball team outscored visiting Sonoma State 13-7 down the stretch on the way to a 57-52 victory Saturday night at RIMAC Arena.
Jordan Lawley scored a game-high 27 points to lead the Tritons, who won back-to-back games for the first time this season.
UCSD evens its record at 3-3 overall and improves to 2-0 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association with the win, while Sonoma State falls to 3-3, 0-2 CCAA after dropping its second straight.
“After a hard-fought victory over Humboldt State last night, it was great to comeback and get a win against a very good Sonoma team tonight,” head coach
Chris Carlson said. “We still have some things to work on over the next few weeks, but being 2-0 in conference is something we feel very good about.”
Since starting the season 0-2, the Tritons have won three of their last four, with their only loss coming to No. 11 Central Washington on November 29. UCSD is off to an excellent start in conference play after defeating Humboldt State for just the second time in program history on Friday and winning a tightly contested affair with a scrappy Sonoma squad Saturday.
Lawley hit 9-of-16 shots from the field, including 4-of-7 from downtown to finish with 27 points after foul trouble limited him to 10 points in 23 minutes against Humboldt on Friday. The Tritons' leading scorer also tallied five rebounds and two assists in a team-high 35 minutes.
Shane Poppen turned in another solid performance off the bench, scoring 11 points and hauling in a team-high seven boards.
UCSD hit 9-of-19 shots in the decisive second half, 47%, and finished at 43% (19-44) for the game. Sonoma State finished just under 40% after a shooting 53% in the final stanza.
After Chad Chambers hit two free-throws to give the Seawolves a 45-44 lead with 6:46 remaining, Poppen got free for an easy layup to give the Tritons the lead for good.
Alan Husted knocked down two at the line and Lawley hit his fourth three-pointer of the game to give UCSD a six-point advantage.
Sonoma closed to within two points on two separate occasions in the final 2:18, but the Tritons had the answers each time. Poppen scored to put UCSD back in front by four with 1:48 to play and
Kelvin Kim and Lawley made three free-throws in the last 24 seconds for the final 57-52 margin.
Keith Garner came off the bench to score 16 points to lead the Seawolves, while Ben Washington finished with 11.
The Tritons held their biggest lead at 28-22 less than a minute into the second half, before a 12-3 Sonoma run gave the visitors a 34-31 advantage with 14:29 remaining. The Seawolves led 43-39, but Lawley converted a three-point play and Kim dribbled through the paint for a bucket to give UCSD a 44-43 lead.
The Tritons will have two weeks off for final exams and will return to the court on Saturday December 20. UCSD will square off with Academy of Art University on the first day of the CCAA-PacWest Shootout at 5:00 p.m. in Las Vegas.
