STOCKTON, Calif. - The UC San Diego men's basketball team's season came to an end Thursday as it was defeated, 61-46, by Cal State Stanislaus in the first round of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championship Tournament at Stockton Arena.
Fifth-seeded UCSD's successful campaign closes at 16-11. The 16 wins are the most since the team went 17-11 during the 2008-09 season.
Stanislaus, the fourth seed, improves to 18-10 and will now face top-seeded Chico State (21-6) in a semifinal Friday at 5:30 p.m.
Stale shooting plagued the Tritons, who made just 33 percent of their shots in each half. That number is tied for the team's second-lowest of the season. For the game, they hit 17 of 51 attempts. From behind the three-point line, UCSD made four of nine in the first half and just one of 10 in the second. The 46 points are the second-fewest scored by the team this year.
CSUS held a 38-29 edge in rebounding.
"Probably not our best performance and unfortunately the timing of that is not ideal," said UCSD head coach Eric Olen. "They deserve a lot of credit for that, they're a really good team. Their front court played great and really caused us some problems. We weren't able to quite execute the things we wanted to do on either side of the ball really. We didn't shoot it great and we weren't able to keep them out of the paint."
UCSD led for 16:47 of the opening half and never trailed. Its largest lead was six on two occasions, the last time at 6:33 when George Buaku made a pair of free throws to make it 22-16. The Tritons led by just one point, 25-24, heading into the break.
The Warriors scored the first points of the second half, a three by Tyler Barber that put them up 27-24. It would be the lone lead change of the evening and Stanislaus stayed in front the rest of the way.
A 9-0 run starting with a Barber three with 4:47 remaining had the Warriors leading by 14, 55-41, at 1:47. The Tritons would get no closer than 12.
Drew Dyer was the lone UCSD player to hit double-digits in points, finishing with 10. He also had a team-high eight rebounds to go along with three assists.
"It just comes down to they out-played us, they're a good team," said Dyer, a junior forward. "I love my team, I thought guys kept battling and things didn't go our way. It's just a tough time of year to have a rough game."
Grant Jackson had eight points and five assists, while Adam Klie had eight points and Hunter Walker hauled in seven boards for UCSD.
For Stanislaus, two players recorded double-doubles. Rob Walters had 13 points and 11 rebounds, both game highs, and Wes Bartole amassed 10 points and 10 rebounds. Tyler Barber totaled 12 points, all on treys.
The Warriors won all three games against the Tritons this season.
UC San Diego, picked to finish ninth in the league's preseason poll, placed in a tie for fourth with Cal State Stanislaus with not a single senior on it roster.
"I love playing with this team, this is one of my favorite teams I've ever had the opportunity to play on," said Dyer. "To have freshmen come in and just fit in right away and to be part of the group right away, it's special, we have a special group. We're not losing anybody. We'll be back next year."
UCSD was competing in its fourth CCAA tourney.
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