LONG BEACH, Calif. – UC San Diego redshirt sophomore
Jake Kosakowski scored a career-high 26 points and knocked down a personal best eight three-point field goals but host Long Beach State stayed in first place in the Big West with a 103-87 win over the Tritons Thursday night at Walter Pyramid. The Tritons drilled a season-high 17 three-pointers but Long Beach State connected on 58% of its three point tries in the win.
The setback was the third straight for the Tritons, who fell to 11-15 overall and 5-10 vs. Big West opponents. With the win, Long Beach State improved to 16-10 overall and 12-2 vs. other Big West teams. The Beach swept the season series from UC San Diego.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first half was a track meet, and that suited the Tritons just fine. UC San Diego connected on 11 three-pointers in the first half and hit 48% of its shots in racing out to a 57-55 lead.
Jake Kosakowski – the Big West's leading three-point shooter – hit four from long range in the first half.
Bryce Pope and
Jace Roquemore each hit a pair from beyond the arc for UC San Diego. The Tritons registered 14 assists on 21 field goals while turning the ball over just three times.
Kosakowski scored 14 to lead UC San Diego, with Pope chipping in 12.
There were nine ties and 17 lead changes over the first 20 minutes, with neither team leading by more than five. The Beach held a slim 14-12 lead on the glass at the half.
Long Beach was led by Joel Murray's 14 points.
The Beach began the second half with a 12-0 run, taking a 67-57 lead with 17:23 left. The home team continued to sink shots and the Tritons went cold. With 15:07 left, the Beach extended its lead to 75-59.
Long Beach built a lead as large as 21 on the way to a 16-point home win. Murray's 27 points were a game-high. The Beach shot 63% for the game, hitting 16 three-pointers.
In addition to 26 from Kosakowski, Pope scored 15 and
Francis Nwaokorie chipped in 11. Roquemore scored 10 with seven assists and no turnovers.
QUOTABLE
"I thought we got a lot of good looks in the first half, but we had a hard time containing them," said UC San Diego head coach
Eric Olen. "We weren't able to control the ball and hard a hard time getting matched up in transition. A couple of runs for them in the second half were the difference. [Jake] Kosakowski gave us great minutes off the bench,
Kaden Rasheed gave us great minutes off the bench. Those two in particular led the push to have us fight back in the second half."
TRITON TIDBITS
- Thursday's 57-point first half marked the most points UC San Diego has ever scored in the first half against a Big West opponent.
- The Tritons' 87 points were their most scored in a Big West game this season.
- The last time UC San Diego surrendered 100 or more points in a game came in 2016 when the Tritons competed in NCAA Division II (104 points on Dec. 12 vs. No. 13 Western Washington).
- Kosakowski's eight three-pointers were the second most scored by any Big West player so far this season.
- This was only the second-ever meeting between the programs. Long Beach earned a win at RIMAC Arena last month.
UP NEXT
UC San Diego returns to RIMAC Arena for the final time this season on Saturday when the Tritons host Cal State Fullerton in the Big West Game of the Week. Prior to the game, UC San Diego will honor six seniors:
Matt Gray,
Jake Killingsworth,
Justin Pratt,
Kaden Rasheed,
Toni Rocak, and
Lunden Taylor. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m. with the contest airing on Spectrum SportsNet and KSDT Radio. Tickets can be purchased at
UCSDTritons.com/tickets.
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 has begun a new era as a member of the Big West Conference 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 garnered 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 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in Division I or II. For more information on the Tritons, visit UCSDtritons.com or follow UC San Diego Athletics on social media @UCSDtritons.
