LA JOLLA, Calif. – UC San Diego built an 18-point first half advantage and hung on for a 64-62 victory over visiting California in front of a record crowd of 3,071 at LionTree Arena Tuesday night. Leading by just one in the final moments,
Bryce Pope buried a three with the shot clock winding down and just 10.9 seconds remaining to propel the Tritons to the win.
The victory was the Tritons' second straight over the Golden Bears following last season's opening day win in Berkeley.
UC San Diego (1-2) was led by Pope with 19 points while
Emmanuel Tshimanga had 12 points and six rebounds in the win.
The Golden Bears fell to 0-3 with the loss.
HOW IT HAPPENED
With the game tied at 4-4 early, UC San Diego ripped off an 8-0 run as part of a 12-2 spurt to start the contest, putting the Tritons on top 12-4 with 14:14 to play in the first.
Jace Roquemore buried a three and added a layup to give the home team the early advantage. Roquemore continued to drive the offense early, with another bucket pushing the UC San Diego lead to 16-4 at 12:18.
UC San Diego connected on five of its first seven three-point tries in pushing the lead to 25-8 at the 8-minute media timeout. After missing Saturday's game,
Jake Kosakowski buried his first two attempts of the night.
UC San Diego connected on seven first-half threes on the way to a 37-27 halftime advantage. The Triton defense limited the Golden Bears to just 32% shooting in the first (6-for-19).
Pope led all scorers with 11 in the first half including 3-of-4 from long range. Roquemore contributed nine and
J'Raan Brooks added five points and a personal best six rebounds.
UC San Diego was opportunistic, scoring 15 points off eight Cal turnovers.
The Tritons kept the lead around 10 points for the bulk of the second half. Tshimanga connected on all four field goal tries and scored 10 points over the first 14 minutes of the second half.
But the Tritons went cold offensively, and Cal drew to within one, 59-58, with 2:11 left. Tshimanga's field goal with 6:30 left was the Tritons' final of the night until Pope's three.
Pope was 5-for-8 from distance in the win.
QUOTABLE WITH ERIC OLEN AND BRYCE POPE
TRITON TIDBITS
- The crowd of 3,071 was the largest in UC San Diego's Division I era.
- California's only lead of the night was 2-0 just 17 seconds into the contest.
- The Tritons did not attempt their first free throw until Francis Nwaokorie connected on UC San Diego's first try with 19:23 left in the second half.
- UC San Diego wore its blue jerseys for the first time this season.
UP NEXT
The Tritons head on the road for a three-game East Coast swing. UC San Diego will begin its trip at Navy on Friday with a 4 p.m. PST tip from Annapolis, Md. The game will be televised on ESPN+ with live stats on UCSDTritons.com.
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.
