SEASIDE, Calif. - Jordan Lawley led all scorers with 28 points and
Christian Hatch finished with 19 to guide the UC San Diego men's basketball team to a 78-74 road victory over Cal State Monterey Bay on Saturday night at the Kelp Bed. The Tritons led by as many as nine and withstood a late Otter rally to escape with the four-point triumph.
Lawley and Hatch combined to shoot better than 47% from the field, helping the Tritons earn a split in the season series with CSUMB. With the win, UCSD improves to 8-15 overall and 7-13 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. After winning just four of its first 17 games in 2009-10, UCSD now has four wins in the last six games, with two of those victories coming on the road.
Head coach Chris Carlson's squad will now come home to host Sonoma State and Humboldt State next week to wrap up the regular season. The Tritons will face the Seawolves on Wednesday, before welcoming the Lumberjacks to town two nights later.
Lawley finished 10-of-24 from the floor to lead three players in double figures for UCSD. He scored 17 of his 28 points in the opening half, as the Tritons were able to overcome an early eight-point deficit. Hatch had another solid game, as well, connecting on 7-of-12 shots from the floor and all five of his attempts at the free throw line. Both players finished with five rebounds.
Tyler Acevedo scored 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting, while Casey Ryan racked up a game-high 13 boards.
Freshman Davion Berry dropped 8-of-9 shots en route to 23 points to lead the Otters, while Derrick Anderson scored 11 and Ian Hosford and Sean Jergo finished with 10 points apiece off the bench.
UCSD held a 37-33 advantage at the half and took its biggest lead of the game at 60-51 following a three-point play from Hatch with 9:46 remaining. CSUMB would answer with an 11-4 run, however, to pull within two at 66-64 with 5:11 left to play.
Acevedo responded with his second three-pointer and Lawley sank a pair of free throws to give the Tritons a seven-point margin with less than three minutes on the clock. A layup by Jergo cut the deficit to four with 42 seconds left and Berry's basket with 14 ticks remaining made it 74-71.
The Tritons inbounded the ball to Acevedo, who got fouled and made two at the line to give UCSD a five-point advantage, but Shaun Williams kept it interesting with a triple at the other end and CSUMB pulled within two, 76-74.
Fortunately it was too little to late, as Hatch converted both of his free throw on the Tritons' next trip and Williams' desperation three missed the mark.
"We showed a lot of poise down the stretch," Carlson said. "We were down early and we got back into it and we made the plays we needed to in the last couple of minutes. I was very happy that we were able to gut it out and pull out the win."
CSUMB scored the first seven points of the game and led 10-2, before UCSD came back to take an 11-10 lead with 12:23 remaining in the opening half. The Otters led 28-25 with less than five minutes to go, but the Tritons closed the period on a 12-5 run to take a four-point margin into the locker room.
