Aggie men struggle in home hoops opener, but finally subdue Menlo, 80-70
Johnson has 22, Tamba 18 as Aggies pull away down the stretch
It wasn't a work of art and it perhaps wasn't the blowout that Aggie fans expected, but UC Davis used a couple of key baskets down the stretch by Leo DeBruhl to finally put away Division II Menlo College, 80-70, in a non-conference men's basketball game Tuesday night at the University Credit Union Center.
The win in UCD's home opener moves the Aggies to 2-1 on the young season as they look ahead to a Sunday afternoon date at Stanford.
"We knew coming in that Menlo won 20 games last year and wouldn't be scared of the moment and would go after us and they did," said a frustrated Aggie head coach Jim Les.
"We're just not getting the buy-in from our guys on what we're trying to do, especially on defense. We're going to have to go back to the drawing board and get things fixed before we go to Stanford."
The Aggies had three turnovers in their first three possessions and didn't get up a shot in the opening two minutes as Menlo raced away to a 28-21 lead that stunned the UCUC crowd of 1,027.
At that point, however, the Aggies went on an 18-2 run, fueled by eight points from TY Johnson, to close out the half with a 39-30 lead and seemed to finally have things under control.
Menlo had other ideas.
The Oaks rallied midway through the second half to cut UCD's lead to 61-57 and remained within striking distance the rest of the way before a couple of baskets from Johnson and a dramatic dunk from Sione Lose finally sealed the deal.
"Menlo made runs in both halves that were impressive," Les added. "They have some really good players and it showed."
Les did have praise for UCD guard Carl Daughtery, a transfer from Central Arkansas, who hit his first two shots for the Aggies, both from 3-point land, and finished with 13 points.
