Nov. 16, 2008

Final Stats

AMES, Iowa - UC Davis picked up its first win of the season with a 64-55 victory over Loyola Marymount, Sunday, at the World Vision Classic in Ames, Iowa. Joe Harden led the Aggies with 16 points and eight rebounds and was named to the All-Tournament Team. Kyle Brucculeri and Dominic Calegari each scored 14. LMU's Vernon Teel led all scorers with 23 points.

UC Davis took control of the game early by jumping out to a 9-4 lead by the 14:40 mark of the first half. Ryan Silva, who capped off the opening burst with a three-pointer, hit another trey two minutes later to give UC Davis a six-point lead. After the Lions trimmed the lead to 14-11, the Aggies responded with an 8-0 run that started with a Brucculeri three-pointer and ended with a Calegari trey.

LMU stopped the run with a Marko Deric three-pointer, but the Aggies countered with a 10-0 blitz to make it 32-14 with 5:40 left in the half. Calegari and Brucculeri each had a three-pointer in the run, which gave the UC Davis its largest lead of he game. The Aggies made seven treys in the first half and led 35-21 at the break.

UC Davis continued to manage its lead in the second half and didn't allow Loyola Marymount to get closer than eight points. When the Lions did, it came at the 9:04 mark with the score 52-44. The Aggies extended the margin back to 57-44 on five straight points by Brucculeri.

UC Davis outshot Loyola Marymount 51 percent to 42 percent. The Aggies connected on 10 of their 24 three-point attempts with Calegari finishing with four. Brucculeri added three treys. Calegari finished with six rebounds, and the Aggies outrebounded the Lions 28-22. Vince Oliver added nine points, and Mark Payne dished out a game-high seven assists.

"I thought we competed really well, and we were able to sustain our competitiveness on the defensive end," said UC Davis head coach Gary Stewart. "We also had a great contribution from Nathan Clark with some valuable minutes down the stretch and Kyle (Brucculeri) came back with four fouls and made a great defensive play."

Clark saw his first action of the year and played nine minutes in the second half. Brucculeri picked up his fourth foul in the first minute of the second half but came back with the critical five points as well as drew a charge late in the game. He played the final 9:46 with four fouls.

Harden's All-Tournament selection comes after he averaged 15.3 points and 10.3 rebounds in the three games. He also shot 14-for-16 from he line.

UC Davis is next in action Nov. 20 when it plays at Arkansas.