SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. ? After trailing by as many 11 points in the second half, UC San Diego rallied to tie the game with three minutes to play, but ultimately dropped a 76-72 decision to Cal State San Bernardino in the CCAA Championship Tournament Semifinals Friday night at Coussoulis Arena. Jordan Lawley sank five three-pointers and finished with a game-high 24 points, but it was to no avail, as the Tritons' bid for a second-straight tournament title came to an end.

The second-seeded Coyotes improve to 19-9 on the season and will advance to face Cal State Monterey Bay in Saturday's championship game with the winner claiming the California Collegiate Athletic Association's automatic berth into the NCAA Division II West Regional. The fourth-seeded Otters defeated No. 1 seed Cal Poly Pomona, 54-49 in the first semifinal game on Friday.

UCSD's season likely comes to a close at 17-11 overall with the loss. The Tritons, who fell out of the top 10 in the latest West Regional Poll, still have an outside shot at an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament field of 64, which will be announced Sunday evening.  

"One of the very first things we talked about in September was never giving up," head coach Chris Carlson said. "Our guys played with a lot of heart tonight and we fought the whole way, we just came up a little short in the end. I was extremely pleased with their effort and I couldn't be happier to be the coach of this team right now."

San Bernardino led 62-51 with 8:45 remaining before Shane Poppen scored on a lay-in and sank two free throws and Kelvin Kim got to the rim to trim the deficit to just five with 6:28 left. CSUSB pushed the lead back to eight a minute and a half later on a layup by Tim Denson, but Kim and Alan Husted hit back-to-back triples and Poppen scored in the lane to tie the game at 67-67 with 3:01 to play.

Michael Frazier responded with his third three of the game on the Coyotes' next trip, but Lawley answered right back with a trey of his own, knotting the game at 70-70 with less than two minutes to play.

Denson then hit a long jumper to put San Bernardino up by two with 1:23 left. Kim got a wide-open look at a three on the next UCSD possession, but his shot was just long and the Coyotes secured the rebound.

Poppen's layup with 17 seconds left cut the deficit to 74-72 and Devin Montgomery left the door open after missing one of two at the line, but Husted's potential game-tying three with nine seconds remaining was off the mark, sealing the win for the Coyotes.
 
Lawley finished 8-of-14 from the floor, including 5-of-9 from behind the arc to pace the Tritons. Poppen continued his hot shooting, hitting five of his six attempts from the field and converting all six of his free throws for 16 points, while Husted also finished with 16, hitting 4-of-6 from the three-point line.

CCAA Newcomer of the Year Brandon Brown scored 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting to lead the Coyotes, while Montgomery and Denson each finished with 11.

San Bernardino shot 57% (27-47) for the game, including 61.5% (16-26) in the decisive second half. UCSD shot the ball extremely well in its own right, hitting at a 46% (24-52) clip for the game and shooting 50% (15-30) after halftime.

The Tritons converted 11 three-pointers, which matched their high mark for the season.

UCSD led 21-14 with 7:10 remaining in the opening half before a 16-3 CSUSB run gave the home team a 30-24 advantage with 1:00 to play until halftime. Lawley then drained a three and Darryl Lawlor scored just before the buzzer to bring the Tritons to within one heading into the locker room.