Slow start costs Aggies in 68-57 Big West men's basketball loss to UC San Diego

UC Davis heads to Henderson for Big West Tournament, will meet Cal Poly in first round

Before the biggest crowd of the year, UC Davis fell behind early and was never able to catch up in suffering a 68-57 loss to powerful UC San Diego Saturday night at the University Credit Union Center.

Before a boisterous Senior Night crowd of 4,281, the Aggies put up a strong defensive effort, but were victimized by a poor shooting night in suffering their sixth straight loss to finish the Big West season at 9-11 and 15-16 overall.

UCSD sewed up the regular-season title at 18-2 and is now 28-4 overall.

Despite the loss, Aggie head coach Jim Les was upbeat afterward as the Aggies head to Henderson, Nevada for the Big West tournament where they begin play as the No. 6 seed.

UCD will open play in the single-elimination tournament Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. against No. 7 Cal Poly, a team they beat twice during the regular season.

"We put up a fight for 40 minutes," said the Aggie coach.

"If we can do that in Henderson we'll have a chance to keep this season alive. I love the energy we had tonight and the response we showed. It was an unbelievable effort."

When these two met earlier this season in San Diego, the Tritons ran away with an 85-60 win.

It wasn't that easy for the league champions this time around, though they did lead by as many as 21 points before the Aggies rallied late with three straight 3-pointers to make the final margin the closest it had been in the second half.