DAVIS, Calif. - UC Davis returned to the court with a win on Saturday evening, defeating CSU Bakersfield 81-79 after a two-week hiatus due to COVID-19. 

The Aggies (11-7, 4-3) had three players score in double figures, led by Pepper with 24. Manjon tacked on 23 points and Caleb Fuller chipped in as well with 18 points.

After falling behind 13-12, UC Davis went on a 7-0 run with 13:37 left in the first half, culminating in a bucket from Pepper, to take a 19-13 lead. The Aggies surrendered that lead and entered halftime down 39-38.

CSU Bakersfield kept widening its lead after intermission, constructing a 60-56 advantage before UC Davis went on a 7-0 run to seize a 63-60 lead with 7:52 to go in the contest. The Roadrunners tied the game again at 65-all with 5:55 to go, but a 6-0 run engineered by Pepper and Manjon put UC Davis up 71-65 with 4:05 to go. The Aggies exorcised some free throw demons on Saturday night, going 29-35 and hitting all of their free throws inside the final five minutes. The last time UC Davis made more than 29 free throws in a game was Jan. 28, 2017 when they went 35-46 from the line against UC Irvine. 

The Aggies are in a favorable stretch of games in their Big West Conference slate that will all come at home. UC Davis will play twice more at University Credit Union Center on Feb. 24 and 26 against UC Santa Barbara and CSUN respectively. 

Game Notes