Nov. 11, 2007

Final Stats

DAVIS, Calif. - Shane Hanson and Michael Boone each scored career highs to help lead UC Davis to a 97-55 victory over La Verne, Sunday, at The Pavilion. Hanson led all scorers with 24 points while Boone finished with 13. Vince Oliver added 14, and David Carter and Ryan Silva each scored 10. Brendan Hallinan led La Verne with 15 points.

UC Davis led 33-32 with 2:31 left in the first half before outscoring La Verne 64-23 the rest of the way. The game was the season-opener for the Aggies and counted as an exhibition for the Leopards. It was also the first of four games for UC Davis as part of the inaugural StubHub Legends Classic.

UC Davis led 41-32 at the half before Oliver opened the second half with a pair of three-pointers and scored the team's first eight points to put the Aggies up 49-35. After a bucket by Drew Terry made it 49-37, UC Davis put the game away with a 23-1 run and led 72-38 at the 8:57 mark on a dunk by Boone. The junior scored all 13 of his points in the second half in 12 minutes of action. He went a perfect 6-for-6 from the field.

With UC Davis leading 72-46, C.J. Portz completed a three-point play to start a 14-0 run. The last 11 points of the blitz were scored by Hanson, who made three straight treys and a fast-break layup to give UC Davis an 86-46 lead at the 5:06 mark. Less than a minute later, Hanson made his fourth trey of the night giving the Aggies an 89-48 lead.

In a span of nearly 12 minutes which started at the end of the first half and ended at the 8:435 mark of the second half, the Aggies outscored the Leopards 39-6. For the game, UC Davis shot 58.7 from the field on 37-for-63 shooting. The Aggies finished 12-for-26 from beyond the arc. Silva joined in the long-range effort by going 2-for-3. The Leopards went 16-for-54 from the field as they were held to just 29.6 percent for the game.

"There wasn't a time in the game where we flinched. We stayed with the game plan and stayed focused at the task at hand and I was pleased with that," said UC Davis head coach Gary Stewart. "We didn't get off to the best start, and it would have been easy for us to tighten up and panic but we executed throughout the second half in a fashion that bodes well for us."

In the first half, the Aggies opened up an early 7-2 lead after a Carter bucket at the 15:44 mark. The Leopards came back with a 13-4 run over the next two minutes and led 15-11 after a Brandon Cunningham field goal with 13:33 left in the half.

UC Davis went on the first of its two 8-0 runs in the half, helped by a Kyle Brucculeri trey and free throws by Jesse Lopez Low and Mark Payne, to lead 19-15. Brucculeri would finish with nine points on three treys.

A three-pointer by Kyle Luhnow with just under 11 minutes left in the half put La Verne back up, 21-19. The Aggie defense would make things difficult for the Leopards for remainder of the half, allowing just two field goals in the final 10:56. Meanwhile, Brucculeri connected on two more threes, and a Payne dunk with 7:29 left in the half gave UC Davis a 27-22 lead.

A Cunningham jumper at the 4:39 mark would prove to be the Leopards' final field goal of the half, pulling them within 29-28. A pair of free throws by Billy Nicolini kept the Leopards down 33-32 before the Aggies closed the half on an 8-0 run.

The Aggies outrebounded the Leopards 41-28. Payne finished with a game-high six boards to go along with his game-high six assists. Portz, Brucculeri, Lopez Low and Dominic Calegari each hauled in four rebounds. Eleven of the 12 Aggies who played saw at least 11 minutes of playing time.

UC Davis continues its StubHub Legends Classic action Wednesday night when it takes on New Mexico State in Las Cruces, N.M. The contest begins a two-game road trip that ends Friday at Texas.