Feb. 4, 2010

Final Stats

DAVIS, Calif. - Dominic Calegari scored 20 points to lead four Aggies in double figures as UC Davis defeated Cal Poly, 83-63, Thursday night in a Big West Conference men's basketball game at The Pavilion. UC Davis (9-12, 5-4 Big West) never trailed, led by as many as 28 points in the second half and shot 24-for-25 from the line. Joe Harden added 19, and Todd Lowenthal finished with a career-high 11 points. Lorenzo Keeler scored a game-high 30 points for Cal Poly (8-13, 5-4 Big West).

Calegari scored 12 points in the first half as the Aggies led by 11 at the break. The senior shot 8-for-10 from the field, including 2-for-4 from beyond the arc. He also added four assists and three blocks. Harden led the Aggies with eight rebounds while Lowenthal made all three of his field goal attempts and went 5-for-5 from the line. Mark Payne posted 10 points to go along with seven assists and two steals.

UC Davis raced out to a quick lead as a Calegari three-pointer made it 7-0 less than three minutes into the game. After the Mustangs pulled within 13-11, the Aggies went on an 11-2 blitz. Calegari started it with a layup and added another trey before a layup by Adam Malik gave UC Davis a 24-13 lead at the 7:07 mark. The Aggies led by 11 points two more times in the half, including at the conclusion of the period when they took a 35-24 cushion into halftime.

Just as they did in the first half, the Aggies opened the second half on an identical 7-0 run. A long three by Ryan Sypkens put UC Davis in front 42-24 less than two minutes in. At the other end, Keeler was the only one keeping the Mustangs in the game as he scored the first 12 points of the second half for Cal Poly. His trey at the 13:24 mark pulled the Mustangs within 46-36.

That would turn out to be as close as the Mustangs would get. The Aggies went on a 22-4 blitz over a six-minute stretch to build a 68-40 cushion just under the seven-minute mark. Seven different Aggies scored in the run, which included five points from Malik as well as a pair of dunks by Payne. The closest the Mustangs would get the rest of the way was 74-60 with 1:53 to play.

UC Davis shot an even 50 percent for the night and held Cal Poly to just 36.5 percent. The Aggies also had 17 assists against just eight turnovers. The Mustangs finished with 19 turnovers.

The win for the Aggies avenged an earlier 72-69 loss at Cal Poly on Jan. 10. It was also the most lopsided win for the Aggies since they became official members of the Big West in 2007-08. UC Davis is now just one of two teams in the conference that's undefeated at home (4-0) in Big West games.

UC Davis continues its homestand Saturday night against UC Santa Barbara.