ARCATA — Mike Kehrig came off the bench to score a career-high 16 points, helping Humboldt State pull away to a 74-60 win over UC San Diego on Thursday. The victory, the Jacks' third straight, improved their record to 11-5 overall and 8-3 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.

Humboldt State's win pulled the Jacks within one game of first-place Cal State San Bernardino in the league standings. The Coyotes were idle Thursday, but play San Francisco State on Friday, while the Jacks will be back on the court to host Cal State East Bay on Saturday.

Also scoring in double figures for HSU Thursday were Zac Tiedeman, with 13 points, and Kevin Atkins, with 12. Tiedeman also dished six assists and Brian Morris led the Jacks in rebounding with seven boards.

Jordan Lawley carried the bulk of the Tritons' offensive load, scoring a game-high 30 points. Tyler Acevedo scored nine points and Lawley topped his team with eight rebounds.

Thursday's game quickly tightened up in the first half after the Tritons had gained a 15-4 lead in the early minutes. Acevedo's 3-pointer provided UCSD with that advantage with 15 minutes, 12 seconds remaining in the opening period.

"We started the game very unassuming. We looked like we didn't care," HSU head coach Tom Wood said.

Kehrig and the Jacks' second unit came on the court to help HSU climb back into contention. The senior guard scored seven straight points in one stretch, giving the Jacks a 26-22 lead with 6:16 left until halftime. Another Acevedo 3-pointer put UCSD briefly on top, but Tiedeman closed out the period with a layup and free throw to give the Jacks a 35-33 lead at the break.

"Mike Kehrig and our second group really picked us up," Wood said. "He played hard, and hit a couple of big shots, and then we started to feed on that success."

HSU finally started to pull away as the second half approached the midpoint, gaining a 10-point lead on a pair of free throws by Kyle Baxter. The Lumberjacks stretched the advantage to as many as 22 points and the game was never in doubt from the 12-minute mark on.

"The key for us is to get playing at our tempo," Wood said. "Kehrig, Will Petty and Kyle Baxter got us going, and the press wore them down."

UCSD committed 18 turnovers in the contest, 12 of them in the second half. Humboldt State also won the battle of the boards, grabbing 30 rebounds to the Tritons' 26.

UC San Diego vs Humboldt State
1/21/10 7:30 pm at Arcata, Calif.
At Arcata, Calif.
HUMBOLDT STATE 74, UC SAN DIEGO 60
UC SAN DIEGO (4-9, 3-7)
LAWLEY, Jordan 11-17 6-7 30; ACEVEDO, Tyler 3-6 0-0 9; HATCH, Christian 4-5
0-0 8; RYAN, Casey 2-3 1-2 5; MCGRATH, Tyler 1-1 0-0 3; BRUE, Justin 1-4 1-2
3; WEY, Jay 1-1 0-0 2; BROWNING, Andrew 0-2 0-0 0; BOHANAN, Dylan 0-3 0-0 0;
CLARK, Elliott 0-0 0-0 0; ALVARI, Bryce 0-0 0-0 0; TARABILDA, Jake 0-2 0-0
0; WHEELER, Ryan 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-46 8-11 60.
HUMBOLDT STATE (11-5, 9-3)
KEHRIG, Mike 6-7 3-3 16; TIEDEMAN, Zac 3-6 6-6 13; ATKINS, Kevin 5-11 1-2
12; BAXTER, Kyle 3-6 2-2 8; BABCOCK-KRENK, Ellio 3-8 0-0 8; SPADA, Ernie 2-4
2-2 8; MORRIS, Brian 3-7 1-1 7; HOWARD, David 0-2 2-2 2; MATHEWS, Colt 0-0
0-0 0; BUCHANAN, Derrick 0-0 0-0 0; BROOME, David 0-1 0-0 0; PETTY, Will 0-2
0-0 0. Totals 25-54 17-18 74.
UC San Diego..................   33   27  -   60
Humboldt State................   35   39  -   74
3-point goals--UC San Diego 6-13 (ACEVEDO, Tyler 3-6; LAWLEY, Jordan 2-2;
MCGRATH, Tyler 1-1; BROWNING, Andrew 0-1; BOHANAN, Dylan 0-2; TARABILDA,
Jake 0-1), Humboldt State 7-22 (BABCOCK-KRENK, Ellio 2-6; SPADA, Ernie 2-4;
KEHRIG, Mike 1-1; TIEDEMAN, Zac 1-3; ATKINS, Kevin 1-4; BROOME, David 0-1;
PETTY, Will 0-2; BAXTER, Kyle 0-1). Fouled out--UC San Diego-None, Humboldt
State-None. Rebounds--UC San Diego 26 (LAWLEY, Jordan 8), Humboldt State 30
(MORRIS, Brian 7). Assists--UC San Diego 12 (TARABILDA, Jake 4), Humboldt
State 12 (TIEDEMAN, Zac 6). Total fouls--UC San Diego 17, Humboldt State 12.
Technical fouls--UC San Diego-None, Humboldt State-None. A-1308