Sunday, December 21, 1997
By SCOTT M. JOHNSON
Enterprise staff writer
First, David shocked him with an offensive spurt to open the game. Then David took out his ankle. And in the end, David knocked Goliath off of his perch.
The unranked UC Davis men's basketball team rudely hosted top-ranked Cal State Bakersfield at Hamilton Court on Saturday, beating the defending Division II champs 65-59. While coach Bob Williams and his players refused to call it the biggest win in their time at UCD, it was certainly one of the biggest upsets.
``Anytime you play the No. 1 team in the country, you're a little bit jacked up. You get fired up,'' Williams said. ``Coaches don't have to fire you up. I didn't play tonight. I didn't motivate them. They motivated themselves. They played tonight, they won the game.''
Perhaps no one was as jacked up as UCD point guard Dante Ross, who opened the scoring with a baseline jumper and a loud howl and finished with a game-high 18 points.
``I was excited,'' said Ross, who played 38 minutes. ``I think everyone was. You just get pumped for a game like this. What more can you ask for? You're playing the No. 1 team in the country.''
Ross and the Aggies also took advantage of an injury to CSUB point guard Marcus Moss, who twisted his ankle 47 seconds into the second half after leading all scorers with 12 points at halftime and did not return to the game.
The Roadrunners (8-1) found other offensive weapons to fight back after a 29-25 lead turned into a five-point deficit four minutes into the second half. Both teams went back and forth during a fast-paced second half before the Aggies (9-1) broke away from a 55-55 tie to outscore CSUB 10-4 over the final four minutes.
The win will almost certainly put the Aggies into the Division II national poll for the first time since the 1996-97 preseason.
``Last year, we got a lot of respect. We got too much respect,'' said sophomore center Jason Cox, who scored back-to-back baskets late in the game, including a go-ahead three-pointer off the glass for a 58-55 lead with 3:25 left. ``This year, we came from the doghouse in the very beginning. It's a nice win.''
After Cox's field goals, the Aggies got a key basket from Justis Durkee and a layup from J.P. Bergez after junior J.C. Timmons stole a Bakersfield baseball pass and started the fast break.
Timmons had 11 points, Bergez 10 and Cox had nine to lead the Aggies' balanced attack.
Despite the fact that most students were home for the holidays - 828 attended Saturday's game - UCD provided its own electricity from the outset.
Within the first 1:30, Ross blocked a shot, scored the first two points of the game and took a charge.
When the game was barely five minutes old, the Aggies found themselves with a 10-4 lead and actually outplaying the Roadrunners at their own game: the fast break.
But the pace slowed down a bit and, led by Moss' 4-for-6 shooting from 3-point range, CSUB had a 29-25 lead.
Less than one minute into the second half, however, Moss turned his ankle while retreating the lane after making a no-look pass to Marco Brown.
``Moss was the high man, and when he went out, it really hurt us,'' CSUB 6-foot-8 center Toshiro Germany said.
Added Ross, ``(Moss' injury was) very, very big. I'm not going to argue against it. I think the guy who came in for him was not used to playing the point.''
But CSUB coach Henry Clark, who took over for Pat Douglass this year after the Roadrunners won the national title last season, refused to blame the injury for the outcome of the game.
``This is nothing more than a loss,'' said Clark, whose team saw its 18-game winning streak snapped. ``We got beat by a better basketball team tonight that's well-coached and well-drilled in their offense. We need to let this one go and prepare for our game on Monday.''
Surprisingly, Williams was just as frank.
``It's a huge win for us,'' Williams said. ``It's the first win we've had (over CSUB) since I've been here and it's got to be 10 if not 11 losses to them since I've been here. So in that aspect, yeah, it's a big win to finally break through and beat them.
``But what we talked about was, `Enjoy the win, but keep it in perspective.' ''
Ross, who was confident his team would win the game after a six-point overtime loss last season, got the message.
``I believed that we were the better team,'' Ross said. ``Team is the key word there. Individually, I think they're a lot better than us. But when it comes down to playing as a team, we proved that we are better.''
[ Home | News | Sports | Features | Weekend | Columns | Subscribe | Advertising ]