Saturday, March 12, 2016

MONMOUTH, Ore. –- Guard Adam Klie’s running 4-foot bank with two-tenths of a second remaining lifted second-seeded UC San Diego to a thrilling 71-69 victory over third-seeded Cal Baptist in the semifinals of the NCAA West Regional here Saturday.

The Tritons, who followed up their first-ever NCAA Division II tournament win on Friday with the victory over the Lancers, earned a spot in the regional championship game. UCSD (24-7) will face the winner of the Western Oregon-Azusa Pacific game Monday at 7 p.m.

Cal Baptist, (28-7), which trailed by as many as 15 points in the second half, roared back to take the lead 61-60 with a little over four minutes remaining. The game seesawed back and forth before CBU’s Gelaun Wheelwright, who scored a game-high 30 points, knotted the game at 69 on a long-range trey with 10.4 seconds remaining.

The Tritons were led by three players in double figures – guard Grant Jackson (20 points), forward Drew Dyer (18) and Klie (18). Jackson had 14 of his points after intermission.

Klie was nearly perfect from the field, hitting 7 of 8 of his field goal attempts. The Tritons shot 50 percent from the field overall.

Leading 32-31 at halftime on the strength of 11 points by Klie, the Tritons jumped out to an 11-point advantage early in the second half by outscoring the Lancers 14-4 in the first 4:05 of the second period. UCSD widened its lead to a game-high 15 points with 12:33 remaining.

It marked UCSD’s second victory in as many games this season over the Lancers. Back on Nov. 24, the Tritons defeated Cal Baptist 76-67 in La Jolla.