LONG BEACH, Calif. – UC San Diego senior Bryce Pope scored a game-high 22 points and Pope combined with Tyler McGhie to bury nine three-pointers, but it wasn't enough as Long Beach State earned an 85-76 Big West victory over the Tritons Saturday afternoon inside Walter Pyramid.
 
Long Beach State (14-9, 6-5 Big West) had five in double figures in the win, giving the Beach a split in the season series with the Tritons for the second year in a row.
 
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones added 20 for UC San Diego (15-8, 9-2), which had its four-game conference win streak snapped. Tyler McGhie scored 18, hitting six three-pointers for the third consecutive game.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a red-hot lead for Long Beach right out of the gate. The Beach connected on six of its first nine shots in building a 13-2 lead. The Tritons committed three uncharacteristic turnovers during that stretch.
 
McGhie came in off the bench and hit a quick three to get the Triton offense going. After a media timeout, the combination of McGhie and Pope from distance helped the Tritons surge ahead, 19-18, at 10:51.
 
The remainder of the half was back-and-forth. LBSU led 34-33 with time winding down when Tait-Jones buried a three-pointer from the corner as time expired, giving UC San Diego a slim 36-34 halftime advantage.
 
McGhie led all scorers with 11 first half points. Tait-Jones and Hayden Gray added nine apiece for UC San Diego. The Tritons buried six three-pointers and shot 46% overall. Each team committed six turnovers and scored 14 points in the paint.
 
After halftime, the Tritons ran out on an 8-3 spurt capped by a Pope three-pointer – his third of the game – as UC San Diego went up 44-37, the Tritons' largest lead of the game to that point.
 
Long Beach State used a block and a steal by Jadon Jones to tie the score at 46-46 with 13:16 to play. The Beach went on a run as UC San Diego's offense went cold. Long Beach rebuilt a double-digit lead, 62-52, on a three from Marcus Tsohonis with 9:17 left.
 
UC San Diego answered with an 8-0 run of its own, capped by another three from McGhie, to draw within a bucket. Long Beach went up by six, and the Tritons cut the deficit to one on Pope's fourth three, 71-70, with 3:38 left.
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• The Beach out-rebounded UC San Diego, 41-28.
• When Long Beach State opened the game with a 13-2 lead, the 11-point deficit matched the Tritons' largest in any Big West game this season (at UCI, Jan. 18).
• UC San Diego has led or been tied at halftime in ten of 11 Big West games this season.
• The Tritons are now 12-4 when leading at the half.
• Tritons head coach Eric Olen has used the same starting lineup in all 23 games so far this season: Hayden Gray, Bryce Pope, Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, Francis Nwaokorie, and J'Raan Brooks. UC San Diego is one of three Division I teams to use the same starting lineup every game.

QUOTABLE
"I thought that Long Beach did a better job on the glass than we did – and that was a big part of it – but they deserve a lot of credit. They played better basketball than we did, all the way around," said UC San Diego head coach Eric Olen. "Not only was it on the glass, but they had fewer turnovers than us, they shot the ball well. We know we need to play better to beat a really good Big West team on the road, and unfortunately we didn't do that tonight."

UP NEXT
UC San Diego is back on the road Thursday night when the Tritons visit Hawai'i. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. HT (9 p.m. PST) from SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center with a live broadcast on ESPN+ and live stats available 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.