Late 3-pointer sinks Aggies in Big West basketball loss at Cal State Fullerton
Heartbreaking 93-92 setback drops UC Davis into a tie for fifth with four games left
FULLERTON - This one is going to hurt for a while.
Leading for all but the final 19 seconds of the game, the UC Davis men dropped a critical 93-92 Big West basketball decision to Cal State Fullerton before a gathering of 535 in Titan Gym Thursday night.
The loss drops the Aggies to 9-7 in league play and 16-11 overall with four games remaining.
With the win, Fullerton is now 9-7 and 14-14.
Fullerton hit 71.4 percent from the field in the second half (20 of 28) and took its only lead of the night on a 3-point dagger from Bailey Nunn at 0:19.
The Aggies called two timeouts in the final 15 seconds to try to set up a winning attempt, but turned the ball over without getting up a final shot.
Niko Rocak and Jalen Stokes opened the game with back-to-back treys, and when Nils Cooper hit from inside, UCD was up 8-0 and went on to control the entire first half.
A 3-pointer by Isaiah Chappel gave the Aggies their biggest lead of the night at 50-34 just before halftime.
In a post-game radio interview, Aggie head coach Jim Les indicated that perhaps his team thought it could coast in the second half and said they will learn what they’re made of when they travel to take on UC Riverside Saturday.
Cooper led the Aggies with 26 points, while Connor Sevilla had 13 and Omer Suljanovic 10.
After Riverside, the Aggies play their final home game of the year Thursday at 6 p.m. against Hawaii.
In other Big West action Thursday night, Cal State Northridge beat UC Santa Barbara, 85-83 in overtime, UC Riverside routed Cal State Bakersfield, 93-65, UC Irvine stopped Long Beach State, 69-58, and Cal Poly stunned Hawaii in Honolulu, 86-75.