Dec. 17, 2005

Final Stats

MORAGA, Calif. - The UC Davis men's basketball team built an 11-point lead in the opening five minutes, but it wasn't enough to stop Texas A&M-Corpus Christi as the Aggies were defeated, 64-53, Saturday evening in Moraga, Calif. The game was a first-round match-up in the Saint Mary's Shamrock Office Solutions Classic. Kyle Brucculeri led the Aggies with 15 points while TAMU-CC's Chris Daniels posted game highs with 27 points and 15 rebounds. Rommel Marentez helped the UC Davis cause with 13 points, and Thomas Juillerat added 12.

For the first time this season, the Aggies (1-7) opened up a double-digit lead early. Trailing 2-0, UC Davis scored 13 straight points in less than four minutes. The last 12 points came on three-pointers, including three by Brucculeri. The freshman connected on treys in consecutive possessions to make it 7-2. After a Marentez three-pointer made it 10-2, Brucculeri was at it again at the 15:50 mark to give the Aggies a 13-2 lead and force TAMU-CC (6-3) into its first time out.

The Islanders began to chip away at the Aggie lead and eventually took a 33-31 lead with 1:08 remaining in the half. Brucculeri, who scored 13 points in the first half, made a pair of free throws with 55 seconds left to tie the game at 33. Neither team scored again in the final seconds of the first half, which included a seven-minute delay due to a bank of lights going out in McKeon Pavilion.

After an extended halftime to fix the problem with the lights, the Islanders took early control with Daniels scoring the first six points of the second half, giving TAMU-CC a 39-33 lead with 14:38 left in the game.

The Aggies scored their first points of the second half on a Marentez layup at the 14:16 mark. Phil Rasmussen, who was saddled with foul trouble in the first half, scored his first points less than a minute later on a layup to pull the Aggies within 39-37.

The Islanders regained a six-point advantage before Rasmussen connected on consecutive field goal attempts to make it 45-43 with 8:26 left in the game.

Two minutes later, UC Davis still trailed by two after Juillerat made a jumper at the 6:10 mark. That would be as close as the Aggies would get as Cedric Smith made a layup with 5:39 left to give the Islanders a 53-49 lead. After the final media timeout, Josh Washington hit a three-pointer to give Texas A&M-C.C. a seven-point lead with 3:46 to play. The Aggies would manage just two field goals the rest of the way as the Islanders built as much as a 13-point lead with less than a minute remaining.

"I don't fault the guys' effort at all," said UC Davis head coach Gary Stewart. "We had a missed assignment late in the game when it was a two possession game. For 36 minutes we did it correctly and we decided to do something different, and we paid dearly for it. The effort was there. At this level, you can't lose your concentration. You have to stick with the game plan."

For the game, the Islanders shot 55 percent from the field while holding the Aggies to 37 percent. The Islanders also controlled the boards, hauling in 36 rebounds compared to 24 for UC Davis. Rasmussen led the Aggies with seven rebounds.

UC Davis shot 28 percent from beyond the arc with Brucculeri leading the way with a 3-for-6 effort. The Aggies forced the Islanders into 18 turnovers while committing 13.

UC Davis next faces Southeastern Louisiana in Sunday's consolation game. Southeastern Louisiana (5-3) was defeated by host Saint Mary's, 66-55, in Saturday's other first round game. The Aggies' Sunday tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m., and the game can be heard on KSAC 1240-AM and www.ucdavisaggies.com.