LA JOLLA, Calif. – UC San Diego (10-6 overall, 4-0 Big West) kept its composure against a fast-paced Long Beach State (11-6, 3-2) side to retain its unbeaten record with an 88-74 victory on Thursday in front of 2,083 at LionTree Arena. The win improved the Tritons to 7-1 at home this season.
Bryce Pope led the way with 26 points, with
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones contributing 19 points.
Tyler McGhie netted four three-pointers in a 16-point off-the-bench campaign.
Francis Nwaokorie grabbed a team-leading seven rebounds while contributing 14 points, with
Emmanuel Tshimanga and McGhie collecting six and five rebounds, respectively.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Tritons hit the ground running, stringing together nine points on four straight possessions to get off to an early 9-4 lead. Long Beach State responded accordingly with rapid offensive sequences that momentarily shifted the momentum. A well-timed timeout was enough to revive the effort, however, which was capped off by a tightly contested McGhie three-pointer to regain the lead at 23-22.
The Beach continued to test the Tritons on both sides of the ball, going up by six on two occasions. Undeterred, UC San Diego continued to fight, yielding another surge in points sparked by a Pope three-pointer and accompanying free throw. A muscled-in layup in the paint from Tait-Jones leveled the score before Nwaokorie converted consecutive free throws to make it 42-40.
The hosts stayed disciplined on defense, committing one shooting foul in the first half while earning three free-throw opportunities from the 49ers' at-times overzealous physicality. UC San Diego outrebounded Long Beach State on both defense and offense in the first half, snatching 15 and 4 rebounds, respectively.
Tshimanga led the first-half defensive effort with three defensive rebounds, as well as a block and steal.
The intensity on both sides of the ball made for one of the Tritons' most contentious contests. By the end of the first leg, the lead had been exchanged six times with both sides holding it for comparable periods. Appropriately, the score was tied 42-42 by the halftime buzzer.
Some locker room magic seemed to be at play for the Tritons, who came out firing in the second half.
Hayden Gray hit his first three of the game on the team's third possession, setting off a domino fall of nettings from the perimeter from Pope, Nwaokorie, and Pope again; Gray's score gave the Tritons the lead which they did not give up thereafter. A steal-and-score fast break layup from Pope forced the Beach to call time with the score at 61-51.
The Tritons leveraged the boost to go on a 14-2 scoring run. Despite a LBSU shift to a high-court-press defense, the Tritons remained composed, namely Tait-Jones who converted a three-pointer amid the suffocating defense.
UC San Diego continued to find the net, hitting nine threes, three of which were claimed by Pope. The redshirt senior ran away with 19 second-half points. McGhie was dangerous off the bench, matching his first-half numbers with eight more points.
The extra exertion forced UC San Diego to make several fouls on defense; both Gray and Tshimanga racked up five fouls, leaving them to finish the game on the bench. However, with the help of a rowdy home crowd, the Beach missed three of the subsequent free throw attempts.
Though many of Long Beach State's possessions resulted in free throws, the Tritons' physical defense was effective as they kept the 49ers to 9-of-22 shooting from open play in the second half. The relentless press even yielded a scoring drought for Long Beach State, who went 2-for-10 near the end of the game.
TRITON TIDBITS
- With this win, UC San Diego becomes one of two Big West squads who remain undefeated (UC Irvine).
- The Tritons have won two of the last three meetings vs. Long Beach State.
- Bryce Pope's 26 points mark his sixth 20-plus point game this season.
- The Tritons' 88 points are the most they have scored in conference play this season.
- Head coach Eric Olen started the same five players — Hayden Gray, Bryce Pope, Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, Francis Nwaokorie, and J'Raan Brooks — as he has all season.
- The Tritons wore their white uniforms on Thursday.
QUOTABLE
UP NEXT
UC San Diego makes the trek to San Luis Obispo on Saturday for the first of its two contests against Cal Poly. The Tritons, who currently hold a 2-9 record against the Mustangs, will look to capture their second straight victory over Cal Poly. The game tips off at 7 p.m. live 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 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 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.
