Box Score
LA JOLLA, Calif.— The UC San Diego Tritons defeated the visiting SF State Gators (15-11, 13-9 CCAA) 83-70 to clinch the seventh spot in next week's CCAA Basketball Championship Tournament. With the loss and Cal State Dominguez Hills' loss to Cal Poly Pomona, the Gators will host Cal State L.A. in the First Round of the tournament this Tuesday, March 5 at 7pm PST.
Tyler McGrath paced the Tritons (11-14, 10-12 CCAA) with 28 points. McGrath connected on 8 of his 16 attempts from the field including making six of shots from downtown. James McCann added 14 points and dished out 10 assists while Justin Brue added 18 points for the host.
The Gators were led by
Decensae White's 22 points and William Overton, Jr. added 17 points with
Winston Demmin chipping in 14 points.
UC San Diego built an early 14-8 lead on a three by McGrath at the 12:35 mark of the first half.
SF State, who is ranked 8
th in this week's NCAA West Region rankings, outscored the Tritons 11-3 to take a 19-17 lead on two made free throws by Overton with 7:15 left in the half.
SF State increased its lead to 31-23 on a jumper by Demmin, but the Tritons finished the half on a 10-1 run to take a 33-32 lead into the locker room.
The Tritons increased that lead to 44-36 in the first five minutes of the second half.
SF State though would not go away as the Gators cut the deficit to 54-51 on a two made free throws by Demmin at the 10:51 mark.
UC San Diego came right back though and increased its lead to 59-52 on a three by Drew Dyer.
The Gators went on their final run of the game and cut the lead to 65-63 on a jumper by Demmin with 4:12 left in regulation. This was the closest that SF State would get as the Tritons outscored the Gators 18-7 in the final minutes to take the 83-70 victory.
SF State did out-rebound the Tritons 41-28 but the Gators shot just 33% from the field and only made one of their 16 attempts from beyond the arc.
Box Score
