Tritons score fourth consecutive CCAA Tournament title - Mar 9, 2020

Stop us if you've heard this before - the UC San Diego Tritons are CCAA Men's Basketball Tournament champions. For the fourth-straight season, the Tritons hoisted the trophy, this time on their home court at RIMAC Arena on Saturday night.
UC San Diego was playing in its fifth-consecutive CCAA Men's Basketball Tournament final. The Tritons have won each of the past four tourney banners, giving them five all-time (2007-08) to match the league standard belonging to former member CSU Bakersfield. The repeat regular-season champions are an impressive 30-1 overall on the season, and take a program-record 22-game win streak into the NCAA West Regional. As the CCAA's automatic entrant, UC San Diego has earned its place in their fifth-straight NCAA Championship field, marking its sixth and final overall appearance in the Division II bracket before this summer's move to Division I and the Big West Conference.
Cal Poly Pomona, which has been at No. 3 in the NCAA's official regional poll, will almost assuredly still earn at-large qualification, with the Tritons the overwhelming favorites to host at RIMAC Arena beginning Friday. It would be a 16th appearance for the Broncos, and third in a row. The 64-team field will be unveiled live on NCAA.com at 7:30 p.m. PT on Sunday.
Tournament Most Valuable Player Tyrell Roberts (5'11''-PG) led the way for the Tritons with 14 points, all in the second half. Coming off a tournament-record 45-point effort on Friday, Roberts was quiet over the first 20 minutes before connecting on his first three attempts in the second period, all from distance within 2:16 of the opening whistle.
After the three triples off the hand of the regular-season and tournament MVP, the UC San Diego lead had bloomed to double digits for the first time early in the second half, at 45-33. Despite being down, the Broncos were not out. Made baskets by Mason Dickerson (6'4''-G) and Finn Eckhardt (7'0''-F-97) were followed by a layup for William Christmas (6'5''-G) for a 7-0 run that cut the deficit back down to just six at 50-44, forcing UC San Diego into a timeout.
The Tritons responded immediately with an 11-0 stretch of their own to regain a commanding 61-44 lead, and Cal Poly Pomona came no closer than 10 points over the remainder. A Marek Sullivan (6'6''-F) dunk and two Roberts free throws preceded a huge four-point play from reserve sharpshooter Gabe Hadley ahead of the under-12 media break to ignite the decisive run.
One of the stories of the game was the turnover battle, where Cal Poly Pomona committed 19 miscues leading to 25 UC San Diego points. Meanwhile, the Tritons were conscientious of their handles, committing just eight turnovers and only allowing three steals to the nation's 10th-best team at picking pockets. The Tritons also held a significant advantage in bench scoring, 30-10.
Roberts was one of five Tritons who scored in double figures. Hadley and Sullivan contributed 12 apiece, joining redshirt seniors Christian Oshita (6'6''-G/F) (13) and Chris Hansen (6'7''-C-96) (10), who each grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
Christmas led all players with his 16 points for Cal Poly Pomona. Nikhil Peters (6'4''-G) and BJ Standley (5'8''-PG) provided 12 each. Senior Riley Schaefer (6'5''-G/F) pulled down a game- and career-high 11 boards.
UC San Diego swept the two regular-season meetings with Cal Poly Pomona, both also by double-digit margins. A fourth meeting could still be in the cards at the West Regional.

Courtesy of goccaa.org

CCAA Tournament Final: UC San Diego - Cal Poly Pomona 76-62
CCAA Tournament Semifinals:
UC San Diego - Cal State East Bay 86-82
Cal Poly Pomona - Chico State 78-53

Tags : TYRELL ROBERTS, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SAN DIEGO, NCAA2 BASKETBALL