UC Davis men accomplish a major goal: Defeat L.A.

The UC Davis men's basketball team managed to accomplish two of four things Friday night at the Rec Hall during the semifinals of the NCAA Division II West Regional.

The Aggies, the No. 1 seed in the tournament, accomplished the first by defeating Cal State Los Angeles 53-51. By doing so, the Aggies (27-2) avenged one of their losses, a 62-61 overtime defeat to the Golden Eagles on Nov. 22 in Los Angeles.

The third and fourth tasks may be accomplished tonight in the 7:30 p.m. final, where the Aggies meet Seattle-Pacific, a 62-60 upset winner over Cal State Bakersfield in the opening semifinal.

Should the Aggies defeat the Falcons, it would send them into the Elite Eight, the Division II national championship, March 18-21 in Louisville, Ky. Also, the Aggies would avenge their other regular-season loss, an 81-68 setback Jan. 2 in Seattle.

"They spanked us up in Seattle, really spanked us," said Aggies coach Bob Williams, who saw his team win its 18th straight game, a school record.

"It's kind of ironic that this week we had another chance against the two teams who beat us."

The Aggies almost didn't get that chance. Playing before an energized home crowd of 4,412, the Aggies took an early 17-6 lead, led 29-24 at halftime and had a comfortable 46-34 lead with 4:30 remaining.

But 80 seconds later, the Golden Eagles (18-11) cut the lead to 46-43 on three straight three-pointers. Then the game really became interesting.

With 56 seconds left, the Aggies had the ball and led 53-49. But a turnover and a subsequent intentional foul by Davis' Justis Durkee on David Rickenbacker gave Los Angeles two free throws and the ball out of bounds.

Rickenbacker made both and after the clock ran down to 30 seconds, the Golden Eagles called timeout. When play resumed, Los Angeles' Benny Hoang turned the ball over with 16 seconds remaining. But Davis' Jason Cox, who took the ball away, gave it right back with 14 seconds to play.

The Golden Eagles then worked the clock down for the last shots, a missed layup by Charles Woodard with four seconds to play and a follow-up rebound and missed shot under the basket by Curtis Gaines as time expired.

"We got a little excited and tried to push the ball up when we were up by 12 with four minutes left," Williams said. "We didn't work the clock very well, but I thought Cal State L.A. would panic when they were behind at that point. I never saw any panic.

"But, as I told the team before the tournament, whether we win 88-60 or 36-35, it doesn't matter this time of year."

Seattle-Pacific (18-11) is the sixth and lowest seed in the tournament, but the Falcons weren't intimidated by the Roadrunners, currently ranked No. 1 in the nation and playing in their 11th straight West Regional.

The Roadrunners, 25-3 and the defending national champions, had a chance to tie the game with four seconds to go. Reggie Malone missed a wide-open three-footer with four seconds left and his team trailing 62-60. On the rebound, the Falcons' Chuck Carter was fouled with two seconds left. Carter missed the first shot and the Roadrunners rebounded and got the ball out to guard Marcus Moss. Moss tried a three-quarter-court shot that hit the backboard and bounced off the rim as the horn sounded.