Nov. 27, 2010

Final Stats

DAVIS, Calif. - UC Davis led the entire game against Seattle, using a 11-2 run early in the second half to gain some separation, en route to a final 80-58 nonconference men's basketball win over the Redhawks on Saturday afternoon at The Pavilion.

Joe Harden scored his 1000th career point, after 16 points and a 10 for 10 effort from the line brought his total to 1007 points, in just three seasons as an Aggie.

UC Davis improved to 3-4 on the young season, putting together their first win streak of the season, with two consecutive victories. Eddie Miller had a career best 20 points to lead the Aggies, after 6 of 9 shooting and three triples. Mark Payne also chipped in with 13 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Cervante Burrell scored 18 points to lead the way for Seattle, who dropped to 2-6 on the season. Mark McLaughlin and Aaron Broussard also reached double figures with 14 and 13 points, respectively.

UC Davis led 31-26 at the break, before they exploded for eight unanswered points out of the locker room, as part of an 11-2 run. The Aggies led by double digits for the majority of the second half, with the Redhawks cutting the deficit to nine on three occasions in the second frame.

"I think what you're seeing is a team that's getting better and better," said head coach Gary Stewart. "I go back to the first weekend; we didn't have enough time to make adjustments because we went back-to-back-back. When we got in the gym and worked on some things, to the guys credit, they have really done a good job at addressing some of the things that were of major concern to the coaching staff."

It was all Aggies in the first five minutes, as UC Davis jumped out to a 10-2 lead, capped off by a Payne mid-ranged jumper with 14:59 on the clock. The Redhawks managed to climb back in the game, using eight points from Cervante Burrell to move the score to 27-26, with the Aggies leading at the 9:18 mark.

The scoring slowed for a stretch of nearly four minutes mid-way through the first half, with neither team registering a point in that time. Ryan Silva broke the seal for UC Davis, hitting a three to put the Aggies up 20-16 with 5:41 left in the opening frame.

Despite a late surge from Seattle, UC Davis led the entire first half, taking the 31-26 advantage at the intermission.

The Aggies started the second half with six unanswered points to force a Seattle timeout, with UC Davis leading 37-26 at the 18:06 mark.

After an 11-2 run was completed by a Miller three, both teams traded multiple three point field goals, bringing the score to 50-38 with 13:11 on the clock. Despite the Seattle full court pressure, UC Davis' lead did not dip below double figures in the remainder of the game.

Another 13-3 run late in the game put the contest out of reach, giving the Aggies a 20 point advantage en route to the final 80-58 score.

"We're doing some good things on the defensive end," said Stewart. "That's the critical component to having a really good team. It's one of the reasons that I'm so excited about this team, because that's an area that I really feel we are significantly better than we have been in a while."

UC Davis will look to win their third straight on Wednesday, Dec. 1, when they travel to Berkeley for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off with California.