Box Score
LA JOLLA -- Cal State L.A.'s men's basketball team surrendered the first eight points of the game and never fully recovered Saturday night in a California Collegiate Athletic Association contest.
The Golden Eagles eventually fell behind by as many as 18 points and lost to UC San Diego, 83-77, Saturday night in RIMAC Arena. Cal State L.A. (12-9, 8-8 CCAA) was forced to settle for a road split this week and also wound up with a season split with the Tritons (5-13, 4-11 CCAA).
The Golden Eagles' usually reliable defense never could slow down the Tritons, who shot 47.5 percent for the game and also made 21-of-28 from the free-throw line. Cal State L.A. shot 46.4 percent for the game and made 19-of-32 free-throw tries.
UC San Diego had a slim 36-35 rebounding edge against Cal State L.A., which entered the week as the conference's No. 1 rebounding team. UC San Diego had 13 turnovers, while Cal State L.A. had 11.
Chris Fields had a big second half and finished with a team-high 22 points. He also had five rebounds and four assists.
Dwayne Jones had 19 points and four rebounds,
Chris Robinson had 16 points and six rebounds and
Leland Jones had 15 points and seven rebounds.
Jordan Lawley, the leading scorer in the CCAA, led four UC San Diego players in double figures with 29 points. Christian Hatch had 23 points and 11 rebounds, Tyler Acevedo had 13 points and Casey Ryan had 12 points and 11 rebounds.
UC San Diego took advantage of some shaky play by the Golden Eagles early and built up leads as large as 13 points in the first half. Cal State L.A. committed turnovers on five of its first possessions and quickly fell in a 12-2 hole. After an offensive rebound and basket by
Dwayne Jones made it 30-26, UC San Diego boosted its lead back to double digits and took its biggest advantage of the half, 41-28, with 51 seconds left in the half. A layup by
Leland Jones made it 41-30 at halftime.
Cal State L.A. also started the second half slowly and the Tritons took their biggest lead of the game, 52-34, after a 3-pointer by Lawley with 17:07 left. Fields scored nine straight points for the Golden Eagles to start a run that got Cal State L.A. back into the game. A Fields basket later in the half cut the deficit to six points, 56-50, with 12 minutes remaining.
UC San Diego survived that run and boosted its lead back to up to as many as 12 points. The Tritons still led by 11 points, 74-63, with 6:15 to go.
Dwayne Jones scored six consecutive points on a three-point play and then a 3-pointer to make it 74-69 with 5:19 remaining, but the Golden Eagles had trouble getting any closer.
A pair of free throws by Fields made it 79-75 with 1:38 to go, but Cal State L.A. came up empty on its next three offensive possessions and UC San Diego put the game away.
Cal State L.A. will play its final two conference road games next week, beginning with a contest at San Francisco State on Friday.