ARCATA, Calif. – Done in by a UC San Diego attack that saw the Tritons shoot 49 percent from the field in the game, Humboldt State men's basketball fell to the visitors in its last game at Lumberjack Arena this season, 77-57, Saturday night.
Justin Everett, Davasyia Hagger, and Romario Wilson all tallied 14 points for the Jacks, with Wilson's effort coming off the bench. Hagger contributed a team-high nine rebounds.
HSU fell to 9-17 overall and 6-14 CCAA conference with the loss, while the Tritons improved to 17-9, 14-6.
I'm proud of our seniors, and I'm proud of the team for playing as hard as they did for the seniors," said Lumberjack Head Coach Steve Kinder. "I thought each and every possession they gave great efforts and certainly made some plays that fans were excited to see. With the emotions of our seniors coming together for their last show in front of this crowd, it made for a special night even though we came up short."
The Jacks were never able to take a lead in the game, though they closed to within four points at 14-10 with 14:52 remaining in the first half on a Jack Kaub 3-pointer. For the majority of the rest of the first half, the Tritons maintained single-digit advantages until a Christian Bayne jumper made it 29-18 San Diego with 6:00 left in the half.
The Tritons led by as many as 13 before establishing a 36-28 advantage going into the break. Everett scored 12 of his points in the first stanza.
The Jacks looked like they were going to put together another strong second half as they have done recently when they cut the deficit to two points, 41-39, on a Kaub layup with 16:09 left. But the Tritons had the answer, steadily increasing their advantage throughout the rest of the second and holding a double-digit lead after a Bayne 3-pointer made it 55-43 with 10:21 left. Bayne led the Triton effort with 24 points on the night.
"We did a nice job coming out of halftime changing our defenses and we executed relatively well," said Kinder. "They're just a very good basketball team. UC San Diego got called for seven fouls this evening in a very physical basketball game, and unfortunately we didn't get to the foul line very often or get them in foul trouble."
UCSD's 19-7 points-off-turnovers edge helped to neutralize the Jacks' superior bench contributions, as the home team's non-starters scored 26 points to the Tritons' seven.
Eliminated from postseason contention, the Jacks now prepare for their final road trip of the season, as they take on Sonoma State and San Francisco State next Friday and Saturday, respectively, with 7:30 p.m. tip times.
"It's really important that we continue to practice hard next week and we represent well the next two basketball games on the road and finish strong," said Kinder.
