LA JOLLA, Calif. - Despite a new career-high from
Jordan Lawley, the UC San Diego men's basketball team lost a 76-67 decision to Cal State San Bernardino on Saturday night at RIMAC Arena. Lawley led all scorers with 32 points and
Christian Hatch recorded a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds, but the Tritons came up short against the first-place coyotes.
Corey Caston scored 18 points to lead San Bernardino (13-4, 11-2 CCAA) as all five starters reached double figures for the Coyotes. Lawrence Tyson finished with 14 points, while Bryan LeDuc added 13, Devon Davis had 11, and Aaron Hill put in 10.
CSUSB shot just under 45%, converting 26-of-58 shots, while UCSD (4-12, 3-10 CCAA) finished just under 45% as well, hitting 21-of-47 from the field.
Lawley treated the Spirit Night crowd of 3,860 to an outstanding individual performance, connecting on 8-of-16 shots from the floor -- including 3-of-4 from the three-point line -- to eclipse his previous high of 31 that came in the win over San Francisco State on January 16. The Lodi, Calif. native scored 24 of his 32 in the second half and tallied 22 of UCSD's first 25 points in the period.
Hatch had one of his best performances of the season, converting 4-of-7 shots from the field in 28 minutes. His 12 boards were a new career-high and the performance marked his second-career double-double.
UCSD trailed 42-31 less than a minute into the second half, but rallied to pull within 59-56 following Lawley's third triple of the game with 7:29 remaining.
A three-point play by Hill gave the Coyotes a 65-58 advantage three minutes later, but UCSD scored seven of the next nine points to cut the deficit to two, 67-65. Hatch came up with a big offensive rebound and scored a minute later to bring the Tritons to within one at 68-67.
Tyson missed the back end of two at the line with 1:05 left on the clock but got his own rebound, leading to a Caston three-point play as the Coyotes took a 72-67 lead with 35 seconds remaining.
The visitors went on to score the game's final four points to escape with the nine-point victory.
"We gave a tremendous effort out there tonight," head coach
Chris Carlson said. "I thought the crowd was outstanding and full of energy and we played really hard in the second half. We didn't get the result we were after obviously, but the effort was there."
UCSD won the rebounding battle, 34-25, and held an 18-11 advantage in second chance points, but the Coyotes scored 18 points on 18 Triton turnovers.
Lawley has now scored in double figures in 13 straight games, reaching the 20-point mark nine times during that span. He has scored 30 or more in three of the Tritons' last five games.
UCSD returns to the court on Thursday when Cal State Dominguez Hills comes to town. The Tritons will then wrap up their four-game homestand against Cal State L.A. on Saturday.
