SAN DIEGO – In the first regular season meeting between the teams since 2005-06, UC San Diego caught fire offensively in the second half, as it did not miss a field goal for an 11-minute stretch, to spoil the Point Loma men's basketball team's bid for a road upset in the crosstown showdown as the Tritons prevailed 82-68.
 
The Sea Lions (0-3) have now faced the 2015-16 NCAA West Regional Champion (Western Oregon) and regional runner-up (UCSD) in two of their first three games of the season. UCSD has started the year at 3-0, with all three victories coming at home against PacWest opponents.
 
Things started well for Point Loma as it hit 7-of-11 3-pointers and shot 55 percent in the first half to build a 37-34 lead at the break. But if the Sea Lions thought they shot the ball well it was nothing compared to the Tritons in the second half.
 
UCSD went 18-of-25 from the field (72 percent) and 8-of-12 from long range, with many of these coming late in the shot clock to turn the three-point halftime deficit into a 14-point victory. From the 11:45 mark UC San Diego scored on 13 of its next 14 possessions, with the only empty possession coming on a front-end miss of a 1-and-1 free throw.
 
"I was proud of how our team executed on offense in the first half, we just weren't very good defensively in the second half," said Point Loma head coach Ryan Looney.
 
"UC San Diego will be a very good team again in the West Region," he added, "and I would guess they would be a team that gets back to the national tournament."
 
Josh Rodriguez once again filled the stat sheet for the Sea Lions. He scored 11 points and led the team with six rebounds, nine assists and two steals. Sterling Somers paced Point Loma in scoring with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Mike Planeta hit three 3's and finished with 10 points.
 
George Buaku scored a career-high 16 points on 5-of-5 shooting (4-of-4 3-pointers) to lead four Tritons in double-figures.
 
After playing its first three games on the road Point Loma will return home to welcome in Cal State Monterey Bay for its annual Homecoming game on Saturday, Nov. 19 at 8 p.m.
 
"Homecoming should be fun for our players but personally I am looking forward to getting back to practice," said Looney. "Getting good is a process, and we aren't going to get there without a lot of consecutive practice days."