Jan. 21, 2006

Final Stats

STOCKTON, Calif. - Rommel Marentez scored a game-high and season-high 24 points, but it wasn't enough as Pacific defeated UC Davis, 67-56, Saturday afternoon in Stockton. Pacific was helped by a 12-0 run midway through the second half after the Aggies had cut a 16-point deficit down to nine. The Tigers were led by Christian Maraker's 17 points. Mike Webb added 16 while Anthony Brown posted a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Neither team scored in the game's first three minutes before the Tigers broke through on a Maraker dunk at the 16:27 mark. Pacific (12-6) led 4-0 before Marentez put UC Davis (5-13) on the board with a three-pointer with 15:20 left in the half.

Pacific upped its lead to 13-7 two minutes later on Maraker's third bucket of the half. The Aggies quickly battled back with a 6-0 run in just over a minute, capped off by a Marentez fast-break layup that tied the score at 13-13.

With 5:51 left in the half, another fast-break layup by Marentez gave the Aggies a 19-18 lead, their only advantage of the afternoon. The Tigers responded with an 11-2 run to close the half with a 29-21 lead.

It appeared the Tigers were poised to run away with the game in the opening minutes of the second half, outscoring the Aggies 14-6 by the 13:49 mark and leading 43-27. That's when Marentez single-handedly brought UC Davis right back into the game.

The Aggies, all courtesy of the junior guard, went on a 9-0 run. It started with back-to-back threes by Marentez, who finished with a season-high five treys. With the Aggies trailing 43-33 at the 11:37 mark, Marentez went 1-for-2 from the line to bring the lead down to nine. Less than 30 seconds later, he scored on a driving layup on the left side to make it 43-36.

That was as close as the Aggies would get as the Tigers ran off 12 straight points and led 55-36 with 7:47 left in the game. The advantage marked the largest lead of the afternoon. UC Davis would get as close as 10 points the rest of the way.

"We struggled to make some shots, and that put a lot of pressure on us on the defensive end," said UC Davis head coach Gary Stewart. "We had a couple of stretches when we went long periods of time without baskets, and we couldn't get much on the interior."

Jesse Lopez Low was the only other Aggie in double figures as he tied a career-high with 12 points. Vince Oliver scored eight points, and Phil Rasmussen finished with six. Thomas Juillerat added four points and a team-high six rebounds.

For the game, the Aggies shot 34 percent from the field while the Tigers went 53 percent. Pacific held a 38-35 advantage in the second half, including being held to just nine field goals but making 16-of-20 free throw attempts.

The Aggies forced the Tigers into 18 turnovers while committing 14.

UC Davis returns to action Jan. 26 when it hosts UC Riverside. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at The Pavilion, and the game can be heard live on KSAC 1240-AM with audio and video coverage available at www.ucdavisaggies.com.