LA JOLLA, Calif. - Aleks Lipovic netted six three-pointers as the UC San Diego men's basketball team closed out its home season Saturday with a 61-44 win against league opponent Cal State L.A. at RIMAC Arena.
Lipovic finished with a game-high 22 points, one short of his top career effort. The sophomore was 8-for-11 overall from the field and 6-for-9 from behind the arc. Five of his long range buckets came in the first half.
Adam Klie added 13 points, Hunter Walker had 10 and Zach McMillan pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.
The Tritons out-rebounded the Golden Eagles, 39-29, and held a .421 to .326 advantage in shooting percentage. CSULA made just nine of its 29 shot attempts in the second half, 31 percent.
The scoring was back-and-forth over the first six minutes of the game. Knotted at 14-14 at the 12:20 mark, Lipovic drilled his fourth trey of the night to put the Tritons up for good. They led 29-20 at halftime.
UC San Diego out-scored Cal State L.A. 22-10 through the first 9:49 of the second half. A free throw by Jeff Van Dyke with 10:11 remaining put the Tritons up by 21 points, 51-30, their largest lead of the contest.
The Golden Eagles would get no closer than 15 points the rest of the way.
David Hall and Joshua Munzon each had nine points for CSULA.
UC San Diego is now 15-9 on the year and 13-7 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Cal State L.A. dropped to 9-15 and 7-13. The Tritons swept the season series as they downed the Eagles, 67-56, on Jan. 16 in Los Angeles.
UCSD concludes its regular season on the road next week, playing at Humboldt State on Feb. 26 and at Cal State San Bernardino on Feb. 28. Both games tip at 7:30 p.m.
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