LA JOLLA, Calif. – UC San Diego rallied from a 13-point first half deficit to remain unbeaten with a 75-67 victory over Idaho Saturday afternoon at LionTree Arena.
Leo Beath and
Tom Beattie each scored 15 to pace the Tritons, who matched their best-ever start in Division I with a 4-0 record. Junior
Aidan Burke added 13 in the win.
Idaho fell to 2-2 with Saturday's setback. After dropping a 2023 meeting in overtime in Seattle, UC San Diego has now beaten the Vandals in each of the last two seasons.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Beattie got the scoring going for UC San Diego out of the gate, hitting a quick three-pointer. The bulk of the first half, however, belonged to the Vandals. Idaho's Biko Johnson buried a three-pointer with 7:20 on the clock to give the visitors a 27-14 lead – their largest of the afternoon. He scored eight in the first half as Idaho took a 36-26 lead into halftime.
The Vandals forced eight UC San Diego first half turnovers. Burke led the Tritons offensively with nine points and
Alex Chaikin scored seven off the bench.
The second half was a different story. UC San Diego began the half on an 8-0 run to draw within a pair. The spurt was capped by a fast break layup from
Bol Dengdit off a feed from Burke.
A Burke layup tied the score at 38 apiece with 16 minutes to play. In a second half that featured six ties and three lead changes, Idaho went up four, 56-52 with 7:49 left. From there, the Tritons sprinted out on a 12-0 run to take their largest lead of the game, 64-56, on a
Hudson Mayes drive to the basket.
Free throws down the stretch sealed the Triton victory.
TRITON TIDBITS
- With Saturday's win, the Tritons have won 15 consecutive regular season games dating back to January.
- Though Idaho held a slight rebounding edge (38-35), UC San Diego outscored the Vandals, 36-18, in the paint.
- Idaho's 13-point first half lead, 27-14, marked the Tritons' largest deficit of the season.
- The UC San Diego starting lineup was Emanuel Prospere II, Aidan Burke, Tom Beattie, Leo Beath and Bol Dengdit for the fourth consecutive game.
- Saturday was UC San Diego's first scheduled 1 p.m. Division I home game. The Tritons have played three previous 1 p.m. home tips against Big West foes – but all three of those were shifted from prime time to afternoon starts in order to accommodate a regional television broadcast.
QUOTABLE
UP NEXT
UC San Diego will take more than a week off from competition before returning to action at the Terry's Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational at Walt Disney World. First up, the Tritons will take on Temple at 4:30 p.m. ET/1:30 PT on Monday, Nov. 24. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU, with a link to 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 has begun a new era as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 24-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 NCAA Division I or II. For more information on the Tritons, visit UCSDtritons.com or follow UC San Diego Athletics on social media @UCSDtritons.
