Humboldt State and UC San Diego Advance to CCAA Men's Basketball Title Game
STOCKTON – The No. 4 seeded Humboldt State Lumberjacks and No. 2 seeded UC San Diego Tritons won their respective semifinal games against No. 8 Cal State LA and No. 3 Cal Poly Pomona, Friday afternoon, to advance to the 2016 CCAA Men's Basketball Tournament title game.
Humboldt State will play in its first title game since defeating Chico State 89-76 in 2012, while UC San Diego makes only its second Championship game appearance since joining Division II. The last time the Tritons played in a tournament title game was in 2008, when they defeated Cal Poly Pomona, 64-56.
The two squads will meet at center court for the third time this season on Saturday at 5:05 p.m. UCSD and HSU split the two-game regular season series this year. In La Jolla, the Lumberjacks rolled to an 82-72 victory. On the road in Arcata, the Tritons earned 73-69 decision.
Humboldt State 79, Cal State LA 54
Courtesy – Matthew Lerman, Humboldt State Communications
Senior swingman scored a game high 24 points and pulled down a team-best seven rebounds to lead the Jacks to its 79-54 win over the Golden Eagles. Humboldt State improves to 20-8 on the season.
The Lumberjacks jumped out to a big first half lead and never looked back against the gassed Golden Eagles. HSU shot 44.8 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes and did not trail before intermission. The Green and Gold held a 45-28 advantage at the break.
HSU looked re-energized as it exited the locker room and led by as many as 29 points in the second half. The efficient Green and Gold scorers shot 50 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from 3-point range as they cruised to a CCAA Tournament blowout.
Brown was 7-of-9 shooting from the field, hit a pair of 3-pointers and went 8-of-10 from the free-throw line. He balanced the team-leading scoring effort with seven rebounds, three blocks and two assists.
Cal State LA shot 33.3 percent from the field in its third loss to HSU. Duce Zaid was the Golden Eagles' top scorer and finished with 17 points.
HSU Post-Game Interview – Head Coach Steve Kinder, Rakim Brown, Tyras Rattler
CSULA Post-Game Interview – Head Coach Dieter Horton, Duce Zaid
UC San Diego 72, Cal Poly Pomona 65
Courtesy – Scott Flanders, UC San Diego Communications
Anthony Ballestero and Drew Dyer combined for nine three pointers to help lead the 23rd-ranked UC San Diego men's basketball team to a 72-65 win against No. 22 Cal Poly Pomona.
Second-seeded UCSD improved to 22-6 on the season.
Cal Poly Pomona (22-7) scored the first point of the game on a free throw, but Ballestero answered with the first of his four treys and the Tritons led the rest of the way.
Ballestero finished with a career- and game-high 16 points. The sophomore guard also had three rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Dyer, a senior forward, totaled 15 points, all on three pointers. He also chipped in with seven boards, five assists and a steal.
Junior guard Adam tallied the fifth double-double of his season with 13 points and game-high 10 rebounds. He was 6-for-12 from the field and collected four assists.
UC San Diego shot 42.1 percent (24-57) overall and 82.4 percent (14-17) from the free throw line. The Tritons made 10 of their 33 three point shots (30.3 percent).
UCSD led by as many as 10 points in the first half and held a 32-24 advantage at the break.
The Tritons pushed their lead to 14 points on several occasions in the second stanza, the final time coming when Klie hit a three to make it 66-52 with 4:06 left on the clock. The Broncos cut it to six after a three pointer by Quentin Taylor with just four ticks remaining, but it was too little, too late.
CPP out-scored UCSD 41-40 in the second half.
Cal Poly Pomona was led offensively by Jordan Ogundiran's 14 points. Taylor followed with 13 points and Jordan Faison had 12. Chris Sullivan grabbed a team-best eight rebounds. The Broncos improved their shooting to 41.5 percent (22-53) for the game after hitting at just a 36 percent (9-25) clip in the first half.
UCSD Post-Game Interview – Head Coach Eric Olen, Drew Dyer, Adam Klie
CPP Post-Game Interview – Head Coach Greg Kamansky