LA JOLLA, Calif. – Three UC San Diego players scored in double figures and the Tritons scored 36 points in the paint but visiting UC Davis rallied for a 78-70 win Monday afternoon inside LionTree Arena. The setback was the fifth consecutive for the Tritons (6-12 overall, 1-5 Big West).
Elijah Pepper scored 20 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and dished out six assists for the Aggies (11-7, 4-2 Big West), who have won four straight.
HOW IT HAPPENED
UC Davis used an early 6-0 run to take a 10-4 lead before the Tritons battled back with six of their own to level the score.
Jace Roquemore came up with a steal and made a slick pass through traffic, finding
Bryce Pope who knocked down the fast break three.
The Aggies were up 21-16 when the Tritons reeled off an 11-0 run – hitting five straight shots – to take a 27-21 lead with 4:15 left in the half. Meantime, UC San Diego's suffocating defense held the Aggies scoreless for more than four and a half minutes.
Roddie Anderson III sank a baseline jumper in the final seconds of the half to give UC San Diego a 37-30 halftime lead. Pope led all scorers with 15 first half points with
Francis Nwaokorie and Roquemore adding seven apiece. The Tritons shot a blistering 59% (16-of-27) over the first 20 minutes.
After halftime, UC San Diego went more than seven minutes without a field goal and the Aggies used a 13-5 spurt to start the half to take a 43-42 lead with 12:03 left. UC Davis continued to knock down shots, going on a 12-2 run to take a 55-46 lead with 8:45 left.
UC San Diego struggled with ball control in the second half, committing 12 turnovers after halftime and 17 for the game.
The Tritons continued to battle and drew to within six in the final minute but ran out of time as UC Davis earned the win.
Anderson matched his career high with 18 points (14 in the second half) and Pope chipped in 18 with Roquemore scoring 12 for the Tritons.
QUOTABLE
TRITON TIDBITS
- UC San Diego shot a season-high 58% (28-48).
- Nwaokorie fouled out with 8:10 left, scoring nine points and grabbing six rebounds.
- The Tritons have held a halftime lead in their last three Big West games, and four of their last five.
- Each team scored 20 points in the paint in the first half.
- UC San Diego is now 1-2 at LionTree Arena against the Aggies since moving to Division I in 2020-21. The teams played a pair of games in La Jolla in 2021 but did not meet in here in 2022 as that game was canceled due to health and safety protocols.
- For the second straight game, UC San Diego used a starting lineup of Jace Roquemore, Bryce Pope, Jake Kosakowski, Francis Nwaokorie, and Emmanuel Tshimanga.
UP NEXT
UC San Diego faces another split week in The Big West this week. The Tritons will play at Cal Poly Thursday (7 p.m., ESPN+) before returning home to host Long Beach State Saturday (3 p.m., Spectrum SportsNet).
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 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in Divisions I and II.
