Down four at the half again, the Tritons run off with Homecoming, 81-65 over Fresno State
UC San Diego outscored Fresno State 49-29 in the second half to win 81-65 on Saturday night at LionTree Arena in the Homecoming game. Leo Beath scored 21 points and Treysen Eaglestaff 17 with eight rebounds, and the Tritons turned a seven point second half deficit into a 62-47 lead.
LA JOLLA: UC San Diego trailed by four at halftime for the second straight game, then outscored Fresno State 49-29 in the second half to beat the Bulldogs 81-65 on Saturday night at LionTree Arena, in front of a Homecoming crowd of 3,669.
The Tritons opened with a 7-0 run in the first 1:38, on a fast break dunk by Alex Chaikin and a pull up three pointer from Treysen Eaglestaff. Fresno State answered with nine straight points and led 20-17 with 9:07 left in the half, and a layup by Brian Amuneke sent the Bulldogs into halftime ahead 36-32. Both teams scored 20 points in the paint in the half and shot 38 percent, and Eaglestaff and Fresno State's Dragos Lungu each had 10 points at the break.
Seven down, then gone
Fresno State stretched the lead to seven, its largest of the night, on a three point play 75 seconds into the second half. The Tritons then took the game away: a run of 12 straight points put them in front, with Leo Beath scoring six points in the stretch, and with 8:39 to play UC San Diego led 62-47. The Tritons shot 65 percent in the second half and 55 percent from three point range.
Beath led UC San Diego with 21 points. Eaglestaff finished with 17 points and eight rebounds, and Rahmir Barno scored 16 on 7 of 11 shooting. Tom Beattie, playing his first game of the season, added nine points in 13 minutes.
Henige's double double is not enough
Bradey Henige recorded his first double double as a Bulldog, with 18 points and a game high 13 rebounds, making 9 of 11 shots and taking nine offensive rebounds. Lungu also scored 18, with four rebounds and two blocks, Ross Candelino added 14 points behind four three pointers, and Amuneke scored 12. Fresno State won the rebounding 40-38, but the Tritons scored 48 points in the paint to the Bulldogs' 34, and 21 fast break points to five.
UC San Diego are 2-0 and 39-9 at LionTree Arena over the last three plus seasons. The two programs had met only once before as Division I opponents, a five point UC San Diego win in Fresno last season. UC San Diego plays its first road game of the season at Utah State on November 13, and Fresno State, 1-1, hosts Georgia State on Tuesday, November 10.
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