Sunday, Jan. 25, 1998
By SCOTT M. JOHNSON
Enterprise staff writer
Now that the UC Davis men's basketball team is almost halfway through its Northern California Athletic Conference schedule, almost all of the questions have been answered.
The Aggies haven't just been dominating their conference opponents, they've been sacrificing them.
Once again Saturday, the Aggies proved to be the class of the conference, thoroughly whipping Humboldt State 79-62 to keep their hold of first place as the only unbeaten team in the NCAC.
The only conference team UCD has not played, Chico State, will see the Aggies for a home-and-away matchup Wednesday and Saturday this week. Even if the Wildcats prove to be a worthy opponent which no NCAC team has been thus far feel free to pencil in the Aggies for one of the top two slots in league.
Case in point: Friday night's 79-64 win over Sonoma State, a game in which the Aggies (16-2 overall, 6-0 NCAC) outscored the Cossacks 45-29 in the second half, was UCD's closest NCAC game this year.
``We've played six of 14 games,'' UCD coach Bob Williams said. ``We'll see where we are after 14. A lot of it is just trying to play the best basketball we can. We're trying to improve in every area we can. I'd be worried if this team had topped out now.''
As has been the case for most of the NCAC schedule thus far, the Aggies took a while to pull away from Humboldt. Despite 8-of-12 shooting from the field, UCD led only 19-16 after 10 minutes. Humboldt, which hit five of its first nine shots from 3-point range, stayed in the game.
But, after the Lumberjacks had tied the score at 27 with 5:40 left in the first half, UCD went on a 14-2 spurt for a 41-29 lead going into halftime. Even without Durkee and Ross, both of whom were in foul trouble, the Aggies managed to hold Humboldt without a field goal for the final 7:20 of the first half.
``In most games, we're coming out slow,'' said Jonathan Surface, who led the Aggies with 16 points for his fourth consecutive game in double-figures. ``It's just a matter of playing with more intensity.''
Said point guard Travon Dugar, who had a season-high six assists: ``Teams are gunning for us, so they want to knock us off in the first half. We just try to maintain that first wave and then use our depth.''
For most of the first half, UCD played with only two regular starters J.C. Timmons and Chris Vlasic on the floor. But John Surina, who was starting for the second time this season, and Dugar gave the Aggies a boost to help them pull away.
It didn't get much easier for Humboldt (8-10, 2-4) in the second half, as UCD had an answer for everything the Lumberjacks did. Aggressive defense and quick transition baskets allowed the Aggies to keep Humboldt at arm's length for the final 20 minutes.
Surina finished with a career-high 14 points while filling in for injured Jason Cox, who is out for two to three more weeks.
``I think I can handle the load given to me,'' Surina said. ``Playing against Durkee in practice the best power player in the entire conference was a burden at first. But obviously it's been helping me out a lot.''
Dugar was a quiet contributor without scoring a point for the Aggies. He had just three turnovers in 21 minutes and, perhaps more important, filled in for Ross during the first half as the Aggies went on their run.
``Every minute I'm on the floor is valuable to me,'' Dugar said. ``I'm a senior now, so I might be seeing teams for the last time. Whenever I'm on the floor, I just want to contribute.''
The Aggies hope the train keeps rolling for Wednesday's road game with Chico State (4-2 in the NCAC) and then again when they host the Wildcats for Break the Record Night on Saturday. After that, UCD will play the same six teams that they have beaten by an average of more than 22 points. But the Aggies are far from satisfied.
``There's a lot of improvement to be made,'' Williams said. ``We have a long way to go until we're anywhere near where we're capable of playing as a team.''
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