Henderson, Nev. - UC Davis' Big West Conference Tournament run came to a premature end Thursday night with the Aggies falling 73-55 to Cal State Fullerton in the quarterfinal round in Henderson, Nev.
Caleb Fuller led UC Davis in his final game as an Aggie scoring 13 points with four rebounds, three assists and a career-high three blocks. Since returning from injury on Mar. 3, Fuller has scored in double figures in four straight games and finishes his UC Davis career averaging an individual-best 12.1 points per game.
Elijah Pepper added 12 points and nine rebounds, the third straight game the sophomore has led UC Davis in rebounding.
"I just thanked them," head coach Jim Les said of his post-game speech. "They work their tails off, they're high character guys. They go to class and compete in the classroom. We push them and we drive them and they work really hard, the ending is never easy to accept....It's disappointing, it's never easy. To the seniors, it was just a great big 'thank you' and appreciation for all of they've done and meant to the program."
UC Davis had its second-best assist-to-turnover ration of the season with 13 assists to just six turnovers, the team's fewest since Feb. 1. Individually, Ezra Manjon led the way for the Aggies with six assists.
The Aggies also matched a season-high with seven blocks. Christian Anigwe joined Fuller with three of those seven, matching his career-high.
Both teams battled back and forth for position much of the first half.
Cameron Ba threes on two UC Davis possessions with 7:23 and 6:03 left in the half tied and put the Aggies up 22-21 respectively. A subsequent 8-0 run by Cal State Fullerton put the Titans up 29-22 with 2:28 until the break. The Titans continued to maintain a slight advantage though and went into the half up 37-27.
Cal State Fullerton opened the second half on an 8-2 run to widen the lead to 45-29 but went scoreless over the next 6:37 of the game, not scoring again until the 11:17 point of the half by the time UC Davis had cut the deficit to 45-37. A 6-0 spurt drove the Titan lead back to double digits and the Aggies weren't able to slow down the Cal State Fullerton offense the rest of the way.
"It meant everything," Fuller said of his time as an Aggie. "It was really the honor of my life. I've had a great four years here. The whole staff has kind of brought me in, coming from England to a new country. I assumed it would be difficult but when everyone asks - I feel bad saying it's easy because I know some people have it tough - but that just speaks volumes to the love that they show and how they bring people into the program."
UC Davis finishes the season at 13-11 and 5-6 in the Big West, the second straight winning season the Aggies have posted admist a tumultous two years of college basketball. Fuller is one of three seniors along with Ba and B.J. Shaw who will depart via graduation. The core of the Aggies, namely Manjon, Pepper, Anigwe, and Kane Milling will all return next season.
