Highlanders Men’s Basketball Falls Before Irvine Clash – UCSD Guardian Online

After a January 9 The bold of the mud skirts, the tritons rode high. They had shook 12 straight and were preparing to play the UC Irvine conference at home in their first ever game on a national scale. However, On January 11thThe three tits are faded under the bright lights and lost by anteatras. The three tits fell again on January 16-this time on the road against the 3-Sear of UC Riverside. It was last month; Quickly forward to this week, with UC San Diego standing up against UCR and UCI again. Holding a winning series of three games and uncertain half-match of the decisive seed # 2 in the big west, UCSD men’s basketball (19-4, 9-2 Big West) to start the week in the Victory column.

The team did this successfully by launching their two-counter tour with 91-71 victory over Riverside (15-9, 8-4 Big West) at Liontree Arena on February 6th. Thursday night’s rematch against Highlanders was an opportunity to seek the avengers of the tritons for their enemies and to strengthen their position in the conference ranking. Termination of the regular season as a top or two seeds will give Tritons a free pass to the semi-finals of Big West Championship in March, a decisive advantage in what will be a difficult tournament.

In an interview after Guardian’s game, senior guard Tyler McGie explained the bets on the game. “I heard the levels [Tait-Jones] He doesn’t look at the standings and all that, but I do it. I think it’s really important – to play for this double bye, that will help us, “he said.

Although he may not have been aware of the weight of the game on Thursday, the exalted game of senior striker Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones nourishes UCSD to 46-44 Benefits of halftime. Born in New Zealand, he broke out for 19 of his highest 28 points in the first half, shooting 60% of the pitch and 6 of 7 of the charity. Tyte-Jones reached deep into his dribble bag and after movements to get to the hoop when he wanted. The Highlanders had no answers and resorted to fouls. Sometimes even this plan failed, handing Tait-Jones the opportunity to convert three and they in the first frame.

Tit-Jones credit its teammates and coaches for its offensive outburst at the first half. “They tell me before the match was just aggressive, playing hard and going down – and the results showed,” he said.

Nevertheless, Highlanders launched an effective 7-17 from deep at half, allowing them to keep up with Tait-Jones and Tritons. Although the UCSD buzz around the court in the matches of the matches, the UCR found an open appearance beyond the arc by a dribble drive and movement of a ball around the perimeter. With four minutes remaining at halftime, Highlander connected to a medium-range jumper to limit 6-0 drive, which makes the score 38-31 in favor of UCR.

The three -tons reacted quickly by turning on the jets to create a slight advantage to focus on the half. Junior striker Nordin Capic was key to the UCSD late jump, scoring 8 points in the last minutes of half-influential 3-stammers from back. Remaining 1:43, he slipped into a threesome from the top of the key to bring the three tits within 1 point and hit another from the center of the next possession to give the UCSD lead.

With the final possession of the Half -Half UCR, UCSD held a thin lead of 2 points. A Highlander player is driving from the middle of the floor to the right side of the hoop and tried to swim when Capich spins to direct the ball and pull it out of the borders. The three -tons defended the following input game well and entered the half with the lead.

After the teams exchanged Jabi in the first half, the three -tunes came out of the break, throwing hay. UCSD outpaced the UCR 21-6 in the first eight minutes of the second half to overthrow the highlands on the mat and light the home crowd.

Triton’s barrage started with a healthy dose of McGi. The hysterical Markman took advantage of a mismatch, publishing a smaller UCR security and supporting it all the way to the rim for two easy points. Tait-Jones then crossed the slop in the offensive of Highlander BouseLine Pass, ran the court and rejected it to Howel, who found McGy in the left corner. He then deposited a 3-chain of catching and shooting through the net to extend Triton’s lead. Although McGy missed his next 3-point shot, Tiet-Jones was there to clean the mess and make the delay arranging. In the next possession of the three-tunes, McGie walked down the main line from the left corner to descend into a runner right in front of the paint, placing the UCSD 55-48.

The active protection of the tritons then manifested in points from the other end, and their lead continued to grow. Senior guard Hayden Gray deflected a omission for stupid UCR, and the Black Bandit was a Kapic ball on a quick break, whose 3-pointer found nothing but a net. The Capich shot made it 60-50, leading the three-digit lead.

Even after the time-out, Highlanders had not learned their lesson for Tait-Jones. The defense broke away from the New Zealander, who drained a 3-point shot. The show continued after the UCR was missed; Tait-Jones broke the long bounce in front of the package and led the crowd to the foot with a two-handed traffic jam at the other end.

Regarding Highlander’s subsequent possession, Gray’s suffocating defense again nourished Triton’s point. He rejected a shot on the perimeter of the UCR, twisting another UCSD quick rest; Gray found a junior guard Justin Rochelin, who withdrew to the right side of the court, which then converted the arrangement to limit the explosive running and make it 67-50.

Highlanders were forced to call another waiting when the house crowd reached Crescendo. Tait-Jones waved his hands as he ran down the side line, throwing himself on the tumultuous loyal to Triton.

Chief coach Eric Olen attributes the start of his team for the second half of the protection of the three tits. “We forced only four turnover in the first half, which is quite low for us. We got eight in the second, which is quite good against a team that does a good job by taking care of the ball, “Olen said. “Beyond the board, we did more of the things we were trying to do in the second half and just fulfilled better defensive.”

The strong defense start of UCSD to give the lead to the three -tunes that never gave up. When Rochelin struck home in a Tait-Jones alley, he made the score of 85-68 with 3:42. From there, the three tits put Highlanders in bed, descending along the clock of the shot of each possession. With 1:30 tie-junction and Rochelin, they almost contacted another identical omission of Lob, but Rochelin missed the final. Nevertheless, UCSD turned to win 91-71.

The three tons did well to expose some distance between themselves and the Highlanders in the big West ranking, but their work is far from over. This Saturday, February 8th, they will have another opportunity to play irvine in front of a national audience – but this time far from the amenities of Liontree Arena.

With the victory on Thursday, the UCSD now holds a game and a half lead over UCR for seeds # 2 and tied the series series, which has potential consequences for post -season sowing. Win Saturday will bring the tritons even with UCI, as both schools will boast of 10-2 conference records. The loss would not eliminate the opportunity for UCSD to catch up in front of anteaters and in the history of the program – it expects.