LA JOLLA, Calif. – Five Tritons scored in double figures as UC San Diego claimed a convincing 91-71 victory over UC Riverside Thursday night inside LionTree Arena. The Tritons (19-4, 9-2 Big West) remain in second place in The Big West standings, one game behind UC Irvine, who was idle Thursday.
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones dialed in for another team-leading campaign, going 9-for-15 for 28 points, seven rebounds and a block. Hayden Gray — recently named on the watch list for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award — backed up the nomination, matching his career high with seven steals, two blocks and five rebounds over 34 minutes. Tyler McGhie drained three triples and finished with 19, Nordin Kapic added 11 points and six boards, and Justin Rochelin poured in ten in the win.
UC Riverside (15-9, 8-4) got a 25-point effort from Isaiah Moses in the setback, which snapped a five-game win streak.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Physical Triton man-to-man defense forced the Highlanders to the perimeter, where they went 4-for-5 on their way to a 14-12 lead five minutes in. UC San Diego dealt with sticky defense on the other end, prompting rare sequences including a Tait-Jones three and a second-chance layup from
Tyler McGhie.
Tait-Jones leveled the score at 22 by the midpoint via consecutive layups before UC Riverside went on a 7-0 run over the next two minutes. The Tritons claimed their first lead at 40-39 with a contested
Nordin Kapic three, quickly followed up by an and-one layup by Tait-Jones that gave the hosts a 46-44 lead going into halftime.
In the second half, UC San Diego continued its unrelenting defense, keeping UC Riverside scoreless over five minutes; Gray led on this front with a pair of steals and as many rebounds during this period. The Tritons strung together a 7-0 run during this drought, headlined by a McGhie hook shot and corner three.
A Highlander timeout could not stop the Triton momentum that manifested in an impressive 12-0 run in less than two minutes. Sparked by threes from Kapic and Tait-Jones and closed out by a Rochelin layup, the 67-50 scoreline forced the final UC Riverside timeout with 11 minutes left.
A trio of three-pointers from Riverside cut the lead to 12. Immediately after, the Tritons swatted back-to-back UCR shot attempts. The two sides went point for point from this point, highlighted by a heavy traffic McGhie fadeaway and Gray Euro step layup to keep the home team on top, 80-66.
Rochelin went off in the final four minutes, draining a three and alley oop to help the hosts onto an 88-68 lead, their widest margin of the game. Another McGhie three finished off the game 91-71.
TRITON TIDBITS
- Thursday's 91 points marks the sixth time the Tritons have scored 90+ points this season.
- UC San Diego is now 16-0 when leading at halftime, as well as 9-0 when outrebounding their opponent.
- The Tritons have now won five Big West games by a margin of 20 points or more.
- Gray's seven steals matched his career high. (Dec. 21 at USD).
- UC San Diego's six blocked shots matched its season high. (Jan. 25 against CSUN).
QUOTABLE
UP NEXT
UC San Diego visits UC Irvine Saturday night in a highly anticipated rematch of last month's sold out showdown in La Jolla. Saturday's contest will be televised nationally on ESPNU, and the game can also be heard on KSDT with live stats on UCSDTritons.com. Tip-off is slated for just after 7 p.m. from Bren Events Center.
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 84 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.
