NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – UC San Diego freshman
Hudson Mayes scored 11 points, pulled down eight rebounds and had five assists, but it wasn't enough as host CSUN bested the Tritons, 81-64, Saturday inside Premier America Credit Union Arena.
Leo Beath added 10 points and seven rebounds,
Alex Chaikin chipped in ten and
Bol Dengdit scored nine and grabbed six rebounds. The loss was the third straight for UC San Diego (15-8 overall, 5-6 Big West).
Four Matadors scored in double figures in the win. Josiah Davis scored 10 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had ten assists for CSUN (13-10, 6-5). Mahmoud Fofana led all scorers with 22.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Both teams got off to a sluggish start shooting the ball, though Chaikin drained a pair of three pointers and
Tom Beattie added one as well to level the score at 13-13. UC San Diego put together a 7-0 run – including a couple of strong finishes from Dengdit underneath to go up 23-20 with 7:29 left in the half.
Leading by a pair, the Matadors went on a 9-0 run – part of a larger 16-3 spurt – to take their largest lead of the half, 39-28, with just under a minute remaining in the half. UC San Diego hit just one of its last ten field goal tries as CSUN took a 41-28 lead into halftime. The Tritons were limited to just 29% shooting in the first half (24% from beyond the arc). On the other end, CSUN sank 52% of its shots.
CSUN was up 45-28 when nine straight points from the Tritons drew the visitors back within eight and forced a Matadors timeout with 16:33 left. A Chaikin layup and three-ball from
Cade Pendleton capped a 14-0 spurt and brought UC San Diego back within three. Moments later,
Hudson Mayes wowed the crowd with a thunderous dunk over two defenders.
The Matadors were undeterred and scored eight straight to build their advantage back to double digits with 11 minutes to play in the game.
CSUN outrebounded UC San Diego 27-16 after halftime.
TRITON TIDBITS
- Hudson Mayes posted his tenth double-digit scoring effort off the bench this season.
- Junior Cade Pendleton scored a season-high seven points and dished out a personal best three assists.
- The Matadors swept the regular season series between these two programs for the first time as Big West foes.
- UC San Diego fell to 4-2 on the road in conference play.
- The Tritons have dropped three consecutive Big West games for the first time since Feb. 2023.
- UC San Diego's starting lineup was Emanuel Prospere II, Chaikin, Beattie, Beath, and Dengdit.
QUOTABLE with HEAD COACH CLINT ALLARD
When UC San Diego made its second half run: "I thought
Cade Pendleton came in and gave us some really good pace to our offense. We started getting stops on the other end and turning defense into offense, but we weren't able to sustain that the rest of the way."
UP NEXT
UC San Diego returns to La Jolla to host Long Beach State on Thursday at 7 p.m. Tickets are available through the
Triton Box Office. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and KSDT, 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 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.
