Comeback Falls Short as Toros Fall 48-46 at UC San Diego

LA JOLLA -- Senior Wayne Andrews scored the game's first bucket 33 seconds into tonight's contest at UC San Diego, but the host Tritons answered with a three and never looked back in taking a thrilling 48-46 win over the Toros to give CSUDH its second-straight loss in front of an announced crowd of 580.

The loss drops the Toros into a two-way tie for fifth place with Sonoma State at 10-6 in league play, just a game back of four teams with identical 11-5 marks in the CCAA with just six games left in the regular season.

The Tritons, coming off a huge upset win over Cal State L.A. last night, took control of tonight's game early, racing to a 12-4 lead at the 14:28 mark, before increasing their edge to 23-10 with 7:47 left in the half.

CSUDH, behind a Brian Gee triple and buckets by George McGrew, Andrews and Robert Willhite, however, ended the half on a 12-3 run to close its deficit to 26-22 entering the locker room.

Mirroring their effort to begin the game, the Tritons recaptured momentum as play resumed, building a 35-26 lead after five minutes of play, and pushing it to an 11 point cushion twice, the last coming with 2:20 left in regulation.

The Toros, however, again went on a run, eventually cutting their deficit to 46-44 on a pair of Andrews free throws.

But two foul shots in the waning seconds gave UCSD a four-point lead with 14 ticks left and, after a lay-up by Andrews again brought CSUDH to within two, an offensive rebound off a Toro miss went for naught as the Tritons pulled off their second upset in as many nights in the nail-biter.

CSUDH shot a paltry 32.1% from the field while missing 19 of its 22 three-point attempts, while the hot-shooting Tritons connected for 42.1% from the field and 36.8% from downtown.

The Toros continue league action away from home with a make-or-break weekend, taking on Humboldt State on Thursday followed by a trip against Sonoma State two nights later.

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