Aggie men rebound with decisive win over Cal State Fullerton
Sevilla, Tamba lead charge in 63-53 Big West basketball win
UC Davis put on an impressive defensive performance to regain its winning ways with a 63-53 win over Cal State Fullerton in a Big West men's basketball showdown Thursday night before an enthusiastic crowd of 1,372 at the University Credit Union Center.
The win, after a pair of difficult road losses last weekend, moves the Aggies to 3-2 in Big West play and 9-7 overall.
Fullerton is now 0-5 and 5-12.
"I think the first half was about as good on defense as we can play," said Aggie head coach Jim Les.
"Our guys gutted out a win when we needed it. I'm really proud of this group. They were all disappointed with last weekend, but they came back and practiced hard and paid great attention to detail."
UCD had started conference play with two wins in early December, but then last weekend suffered back-to-back losses at Cal State Bakersfield and Cal State Northridge.
"We fell off a little bit in the second half, but we were able to pull it together when we needed it," Les added.
The coach's words were echoed by Pablo Tamba, who had several key assists down the stretch after the Titans cut an 18-point Aggie lead to just 55-51 with 1:13 remaining.
"We worked really hard on defense all week and it showed," said Tamba, a senior from Malaga, Spain by way of Idaho State.
The Aggie defense was suffocating in the first half, simply not allowing their visitors to get an open uncontested shot.