Box Score
LA JOLLA -- Junior guard Corey Caston scored a team-high 18 points, including five in the final 36 seconds to help Cal State San Bernardino stave off a late comeback by host UC San Diego for a 76-67 CCAA men's conference victory before 3,860 fans in RIMAC Arena on Spirit Night.
The Tritons were getting a lot of vocal support as they played much better than their 4-12 record would indicate but the Coyotes disappointed the partisan crowd by closing out the Tritons after UC San Diego got back within one point at 68-67 win 1:36 left in the game.
The victory improved the West Region No. 4 Coyotes record to 13-4 overall and 11-2 in the CCAA while the Tritons are now 3-10 in conference play.
The Coyotes return home from a 2-0 road trip to host Cal Poly Pomona at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night in Coussoulis Arena.
Tritons senior Jordan Lawley, the leading scorer in the conference, kept his team in the game with 32 points, including 13 of 13 from the foul line but missed a three-pointer with 22 seconds left that could have brought the Tritons back to within two points.
Christian Hatch had 12 points off the bench for the Tritons.
Backing up Caston's effort for CSUSB, which included six assists, were four other players in double figures -- Lawrence Tyson (14 points), Bryan LeDuc (13 points and eight rebounds); Devon Davis (11 points and four rebounds), Aaron Hill (10 points, five assists and three steals.)
UC San Diego was in striking distance throughout the game but the Coyotes took an eight-point lead with 15:46 left in the second half on a dunk by LeDuc and were up by seven, 65-58 on a layup by Hill with 4:07 left. LeDuc's layup with 2:56 left made it a 67-62 game.
However, Jake Tarabilden sank a three-pointer to trim the lead to two at 67-65. A free throw by Tyson made it 68-65 with 2:05 left. Hatch followed with a layup at the 1:36 mark to make it 68-67. Tyson was fouled by Lawley and made one of two free throws for a 69-67 lead.
That set the stage for an old-fashioned three-point play by Caston with 35 seconds left -- a layup and foul by Hatch and the free throw for a 72-67 lead. After Lawley missed a three, LeDuc rebounded and Lawley fouled Hill who made his free throw to make it 73-67 with 22 seconds left.
Caston was fouled after a UCSD turnover with 13 seconds left and made both free throws to ice the game.
The teams were virtually even on shooting accuracy. CSUSB was 26 for 58 from the field (45 percent), 16 of 19 from the foul line (84 percent) but only eight of 29 from three-point range (28 percent). The Coyotes committed just seven turnovers, made nine steals and recorded 18 assists.
The Tritons also shot 45 percent from the floor (21 of 47) but hit six of 14 three-pointers (43 percent) and 19 of 20 foul shots (95 percent). Despite that edge, there was only one lead change the entire game and the score was tied just twice. CSUSB's largest lead was 11 with 1:09 left in the first half but UCSD got back to within seven at 38-31 at the halftime buzzer.