Dec. 5, 2009

Final Stats

DAVIS, Calif. - Seattle University defeated UC Davis, 88-78, Saturday afternoon in a non-conference men's basketball game at The Pavilion. Each team had two players score 22 points while UC Davis played with a depleted lineup. Mark Payne tied a career-high with 22 points for the Aggies and was joined by Dominic Calegari with 22. Charles Garcia and Chris Gweth each finished with 22 for the Redhawks.

UC Davis (3-5) played catch-up most of the day and trailed by as many as 17 points in the second half. Seattle (5-4) led by 14 points with six minutes to play and had to hold off a comeback bid by the Aggies as the hosts pulled to within six with 1:12 remaining.

Redshirt freshman Julian Welch equaled a career-high with 15 points. He shot 3-for-6 from beyond the arc while finishing with three assists and two steals.

"It was an uphill battle from the start," said UC Davis head coach Gary Stewart. "They got command of the tempo early, and we tried to wrestle with them. We had times that we played to the tempo we wanted to, but we couldn't consistently get the type of tempo we felt would be advantageous to us."

The Redhawks built an early seven-point lead and led 20-13 after a layup by Alex Jones with 11:48 left in the first half. The Aggies then went on 16-3 run with Payne and Calegari each scoring six during the blitz. By the time it was over, UC Davis had what turned out to be its largest lead of the game with a 29-23 advantage at the 6:34 mark.

Seattle responded with a 13-2 run to regain a 36-31 lead before settling with a 41-38 cushion at the half.

UC Davis took back the lead briefly in the opening two minutes of the second half and led 42-41 after a Calegari bucket. Another 13-2 run by the Redhawks gave them a 54-44 lead with 15:21 left in the game. Seattle pushed the lead to 65-48 just past the midway point of the second half.

UC Davis shot 49 percent for the game compared to 47 percent for Seattle. The Redhawks controlled the boards with a 46-26 rebounding advantage. Garcia hauled in 12 rebounds to go along with his 22 points. Seattle committed 25 turnovers while the Aggies finished with 21.

Calegari led UC Davis with six rebounds, and freshman Ryan Sypkens dished out five assists. UC Davis dressed just eight players due to four being sidelined as the result of injuries. Those who did not suit up included Joe Harden, who came into the game averaging15.0 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.

"Our young kids competed really well," added Stewart. "There's a big difference between playing hard and playing hard and competing. I thought they played hard and competed, and that bodes well for us in the future."

UC Davis is next in action Dec. 13 at Stanford. The game is the first of three straight on the road as the Aggies will not play again at home until Dec. 30.