Score: UC Davis 62, CSUN 65
Location:Â Davis, Calif.
Records: UC Davis 15-13 (9-8), CSUN 20-7 (12-4)
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The short story: UC Davis showed a lot of resilience, but late surges from CSUN, including one where the Matadors made seven consecutive field goals, proved decisive. These runs paired with the Matadors shooting 71.4 percent from the field in the second half, were the difference in CSUN's 65-62 victory over the Aggies.
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COURT SIDE
- TY Johnson and Connor Sevilla combined to score 38 total points
- Johnson had 24 points to go along with seven assists and two steals
- With the pair of steals, Johnson now needs seven more steals to become the Aggies' all-time career steals leader
- Sevilla added 14 points and two steals and Pablo Tamba added eight points and five steals
- Nils Cooper pulled down three offensive rebounds to pace the UC Davis offense which grabbed 11 boards and turned them into seven second chance points
- The UC Davis defense was effective, especially early, at taking away the basketball in Saturday's game, forcing 19 CSUN turnovers
- Among those early turnovers, five of them in the first half alone were called either traveling or double dribbles, largely in part to UC Davis' trapping efforts
- Those 19 takeaways turned into 23 points on the offensive end of the floor
- Leading this charge defensively was Tamba, who had a game and career-high five steals
- CSUN was paced by a trio of double figure scorers which included Scotty Washington with 14 points, Marcus Adams Jr. with 19 and Mahmoud Fofana with a Matador-high 20
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HOW IT HAPPENED
- After jumping out to a 13-12 advantage, UC Davis went on a 9-0 run with 10:00 left in the first half, capped off by a bucket from Leo DeBruhl, extending their lead to 22-12
- During this run, all of UC Davis' points came from turnovers or second-chance opportunities
- CSUN chipped away at the lead, fueled by Marcus Adams Jr.'s 13 first-half points, bringing them back into the game
- However, the Aggies still entered halftime with a 27-24 advantage
- UC Davis started the second half strong, going on an 8-0 run to expand their lead to 11 points, making the score 43-32 with 12:11 remaining
- After this Aggie run, momentum shifted dramatically as CSUN introduced different defensive looks and began creating opportunities at the rim
- These adjustments sparked CSUN's largest run of the day, an 11-0 scoring spurt, cutting their deficit to just one point
- The score stood at 58-57 in favor of UC Davis with 3:21 left to play
- A layup by Tamba briefly extended the Aggies' lead to three points, 60-57, and momentarily halted CSUN's run
- However, it wasn't enough to hold off the Matadors in the final minutes, as they went on another critical 8-2 run, making the score 65-62 with just four seconds remaining
- On the final play, the Aggies had a full-court opportunity to tie the game
- It began with a great catch by Niko Rocak, but as he attempted to skip the ball cross-court, it just grazed the rim, preventing a wide-open Sevilla in the opposite corner from getting a chance to tie the game
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UP NEXT: UC Davis will have just one game next week, traveling to the Aloha State on Saturday, March 1 to take on Hawai'i.
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