SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. ? The UC San Diego men's basketball won the California Collegiate Athletic Association title with a 64-56 victory over Cal Poly Pomona Saturday, guaranteeing the Tritons (18-11) a spot in their first NCAA Division II Tournament.
Junior Henry Patterson, named the CCAA Tournament Most Valuable Player, carried UCSD with a 17-point performance on 5-for-7 shooting. The Tritons got off to spectacular starts in both halves and led the Broncos through all of the game's final 38 minutes.
"We've had great senior leadership all year long," UCSD head coach Chris Carlson said, "and it showed in the performances of Clint Allard, Andrew Hatch and Henry Patterson."
Four UCSD players scored in double figures, including junior Darryl Lawlor's 11 points. Lawlor also grabbed 10 rebounds to record his second double-double of the tournament.
CPP hit the game's first shot, a three-pointer from Rich Collins, but the Tritons rallied back for a 13-0 run stretching to the 14:07 mark. The scoring spree featured four successful free throws from Patterson and three shots knocked down from beyond the arc by Jordan Lawley, Clint Allard and Lawlor.
"Like last night, the key was really understanding what we had to do defensively," Carlson said. "It all started on the defensive end. We got some stops early and that led to our ability to control the tempo. Offensively, we got some good looks early and were able to knock them down."
The Broncos chipped away at UCSD's lead and pulled to within three points at the 3:44 mark in the first half off of a Larry Gordon three-pointer. The bucket from then until halftime was a jumper from Allard as the Tritons took a 29-24 lead into intermission. UCSD held a vast 16-7 rebounding advantage after the game's first 20 minutes.
The Triton offense returned to its earlier form to start the second half, pushing its lead up to a game-high 14 points with 14:06 to play. CPP again showed remarkable resiliency, slashing UCSD's advantage to three points around the seven-minute mark.
The lead moved between five and eight points for much of the remainder of the game as the Tritons helped their case by going 10-for-13 from the free throw line during the contest's final three and a half minutes. Patterson finished 7-for-10 from the strike while Lawlor went a perfect 4-for-4 to help UCSD close out the 64-56 victory.
Along with Patterson, the CCAA postseason MVP, Allard and Jordan Lawley were also named to the All-Tournament Team. The Triton trio joined CPP's Gordon and Angelo Tsagarakis to fill the roster of five.
After ending the regular season with five straight losses, UCSD turned around its season by pulling out three tournament victories to clinch a spot in the NCAA Division II Tournament. The last time the Tritons appeared in an NCAA Tournament came in the 1993-1994 season as a Division III contender.
"We're thrilled to be going to the NCAA Tournament," Carlson said. "It's just a fantastic feeling to be head coach at such a prestigious institution with such a great group of guys?it's extremely special."
The sites and seeding for the 52nd Annual DII Men's Basketball Championships will be announced Sunday at 7:30 p.m. Audio and video streams of the announcements for both the men's and women's selection brackets can be accessed by logging onto either www.cstv.com/ncaa/divii or www.ncaa.com. In addition, both 64-team brackets will be posted on www.ncaa.com immediately after each selection show.
