Cal State Fullerton can’t keep up with Bryce Pope in loss to UC San Diego

FULLERTON — The Cal State Fullerton men’s basketball team couldn’t slow UC San Diego’s Bryce Pope, and the Titans were outshot and outrebounded in a 76-58 loss to the visiting Tritons on Saturday night.

Pope had a season-high 29 points on 11-for-17 shooting (4 for 9 from 3-point range) as UCSD built a 14-point lead by halftime and shot 60.4% from the field and 9 for 22 (40.9%) from behind the arc for the night. Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones added 12 points, Tyler McGhie scored nine and Francis Nwaokorie had seven points and 13 rebounds for the Tritons (9-6 overall, 3-0 Big West), who enjoyed a 35-19 rebounding advantage.

DJ Brewton led Fullerton (8-8, 1-3) with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting, while Max Jones added 17 points, four steals and three assists. Donovan Oday contributed eight points off the bench for the Titans, who shot 42.6% from the field and just 13 for 22 from the free-throw line.

Fullerton trailed 24-21 before UCSD closed the first half on a 19-2 run to take a 40-26 lead into the locker room. Pope, a senior guard, had 18 of his points in the first half on 6-for-8 shooting (3 for 4 from 3-point range) and J’Raan Brooks had back-to-back 3-pointers during the run.

Oday completed a three-point play to cut Fullerton’s deficit to 53-42 with 12:26 left and got the Titans within 11 again on a 3-pointer about a minute later, but UCSD scored the next 12 points to open a 23-point lead with 6:39 left.

Jones hit a 3-pointer with 4:50 left to get Fullerton within 68-53, but the visitors closed it out from there.

UP NEXT

Fullerton plays at Cal State Northridge next Saturday (Jan. 13) at 1 p.m.