Aggies To Battle Bulldogs Thursday In Fresno

Dec. 16, 2009

DAVIS, Calif. - The UC Davis men's basketball team continues its three-game road stretch Thursday night when it faces Fresno State at the Save Mart Center. The non-conference clash begins at 7 p.m. and can be heard on KFSG 1690-AM as well as www.ucdavisaggies.com.

In its last outing, UC Davis (3-6) was defeated by Stanford, 85-69, Sunday night at Maples Pavilion. Mark Payne led the Aggies with 21 points, and freshman Ryan Sypkens finished with career-high 16. Dominic Calegari scored 13, and Ryan Howley tossed in 10 as UC Davis played without four injured players for the second straight game. Stanford jumped out to a 14-0 lead and never let the lead get into single digits the rest of the way.

Payne's efforts have vaulted him to the top of the Big West Conference as he leads all scorers with 17.8 ppg. The junior is also in the top-10 in assists, field goal percentage, free throw percentage, blocks and assist/turnover ratio. Calegari and Joe Harden are tied for sixth in the Big West with 15.0 ppg.

UC Davis has played with just eight players the past two games. Juniors Todd Lowenthal (wrist) and Ryan Silva (hamstring) have each missed the past six games, and redshirt freshman Jacob Ranger (groin) has missed the past five games. Harden (ankle) is the latest Aggie to be out of the lineup, having missed the past two contests.

Fresno State enters the game with a 4-5 record. The Bulldogs are coming off a 72-67 loss at home to BYU on Saturday. The defeat snapped a two-game winning streak against San Diego and Pepperdine. Paul George leads Fresno State with 17.3 ppg. while Sylvester Seay is averaging 17.0. Three Bulldogs are averaging at least 6.1 rebounds per game with George leading the team with 7.9. The Bulldogs are 2-3 at home.

Fresno State leads the all-time series 38-18. The teams met last year as part of the ESPNU BracketBusters with the Bulldogs posting a 71-70 victory in Davis on Feb. 21. The game was close throughout as the largest lead for either team was just seven points. Joe Harden led all scorers with a season-high 25 points. Seay led the Bulldogs with 20. Prior to that game, the teams had not played since the 1983-84 season.

Following the Fresno State game, UC Davis will next be action Dec. 22 at Air Force.

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