LA JOLLA, Calif. – Four Tritons scored in double figures – including a career-high 12 from freshman
Quin Patterson – but visiting CSU Bakersfield outlasted the Tritons, 75-69, in overtime Saturday night inside LionTree Arena. The Tritons fell to 8-16 overall and 3-9 in The Big West. The loss was UC San Diego's third straight.
The Roadrunners (8-15, 4-8) have won two in a row.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Tritons missed their first four field goal attempts and trailed 4-0 before getting on the board on a driving baseline dunk from
Jace Roquemore at 17:05.
Bakersfield was up 15-11 at 11:35 when lids were seemingly placed on each basketball. Neither team scored for over four and a half minutes.
Bryce Pope broke the drought with a driving layup. Meanwhile, the Triton defense kept CSU Bakersfield off the board for 8:10 and a three from
Quin Patterson and another Pope layup punctuated a 9-0 UC San Diego run that gave the Tritons an 18-15 lead.
The Tritons closed the first half on an 11-1 run to take a 29-19 lead into halftime. The Tritons shot 46% while limiting the Roadrunners to 30% shooting. Pope led all scorers with 10 while Patterson established a new career high with nine in the first half.
UC San Diego scored 12 points in the paint in the first while Bakersfield did not have any.
After halftime, the Tritons went up 41-28 on a driving layup from
Camden McCormick with 16:28 on the clock.
However, a 19-4 spurt from the Runners drew the visitors to within two, 49-47, midway through the period.
CSU Bakersfield continued its hot shooting and went in front on a three from Marvin McGhee III, 52-51. The Runners hit 12 of their first 17 field goal tries in the second half. The game was a see-saw affair from there, with UC San Diego taking a 61-60 lead on a driving layup from Pope with 1:02 left. Bakersfield got a late free throw and the game went to overtime, tied at 61.
In overtime, the Roadrunners hit 3-of-4 field goal tries and knocked down seven free throws to pull out the win.
QUOTABLE
TRITON TIDBITS
- Each team dressed just eight players due to injury.
- The 19 points allowed by UC San Diego in the first half was the second lowest total surrendered in a first half by the Tritons this season. CSU Bakersfield scored 18 in the first meeting between these teams on Jan. 18.
- UC San Diego has led at halftime in eight of its 12 Big West games.
- The Tritons are now 1-3 in overtime games this season.
- CSU Bakersfield leads the series 4-2 since the Tritons moved to Division I in 2020-21.
- UC San Diego used a starting lineup of Roddie Anderson III, Jace Roquemore, Bryce Pope, Jake Kosakowski, and Francis Nwaokorie for the sixth consecutive game.
UP NEXT
UC San Diego travels west to face Hawai'i in a Big West contest Thursday night. Game time is scheduled for 9 p.m. PST from SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. The contest will air live on Spectrum Sports Hawai'i and ESPN+ on the mainland.
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.
