SEASIDE, Calif. ? After losing three straight in CCAA play, the UC San Diego men's basketball team got back on track Friday night, posting a 71-61 road win over Cal State Monterey Bay at the Otter Sports Complex. Senior guard Kelvin Kim tied his career-high with 23 points and Jordan Lawley scored 18 to lead the Tritons to their first victory since January 2.

UCSD climbs back over the .500 mark at 7-6 overall and improves to 4-3 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association with the win. The Tritons also picked up their first road triumph in league play after falling at Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona last week. The loss drops CSUMB to 11-4 overall and 5-3 in the CCAA.

Kim had his best game of 2008-09, leading all scorers on 7-of-13 shooting, including 4-of-7 from the three-point line. His previous high this season was 16 points, which came against Cal State L.A. ? UCSD's last win. The transfer from UCLA also scored 23 points at Cal State Stanislaus February 2 of last season.

Kim had been held to a total of 11 points in the Tritons' last two games.

Lawley was just 4-of-12 from the field, but converted 10-of-12 free throws to reach double figures for the ninth time in 13 games this season. He also finished with five rebounds. Shane Poppen scored seven points and pulled down 11 boards, while Brett Stuckey scored a season-high 12 points in nine minutes off the bench.

UCSD's offense, which was averaging just 53.7 points during the three-game losing streak, regained its form against the Otters Friday, putting up 71 points. The performance marked the Tritons' highest output since they scored a season-high 78 points in a win over Grand Canyon on December 21.

Head coach Chris Carlson's squad shot 43% (20-47) for the game and hit 6-of-15 shots from behind the arc, 40%.

“Our offense had definitely been struggling coming into tonight's game,” Carlson said. “We really need our starting backcourt to produce and Kelvin and Jordan gave us great efforts tonight. When you get 41 points from your starting guards and you get 21 off the bench, you're going to have a chance to win.”

The Triton defense did its job as well, holding the CCAA's third-ranked offense to 16 points below their season average. The Otters finished shooting 31% from the field and hit just five of their 27 three-point attempts, 18.5%.

Sean Gergo scored 14 points to pace Cal State Monterey Bay. No other player scored more than nine points for the Otters.

UCSD never trailed and led by as many as 16 points in the second half (44-28). CSUMB came all the way back to tie the game at 57-57 on a layup by Gergo with 2:47 left to play, but the Tritons scored 14 of the final 18 points to ice the victory.

UCSD will look to make it 2-for-2 on its Northern California trip Saturday at San Francisco State. Tipoff is approximately 7:30 p.m.