College basketball roundup: UCSD men win Big West opener; SDSU women hold off Pacific

UC San Diego’s men’s basketball team opened its defense of its Big West Conference title Saturday night with an 80-74 victory at Long Beach State, while both the San Diego State and University of San Diego women’s teams held off rallies Sunday afternoon to score nonconference wins at home.

Naomi Panganiban helped shoot the Aztecs to a 70-68 win over Pacific at Viejas Arena.

And Olivia Owens scored 25 points as the Toreros defeated Utah State 70-66 at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.

UCSD’s men were led by guard Aidan Burke, who scored a career-high 18 points as the Tritons improved to 8-1. Forward Leo Beath added 14 points and 11 rebounds, while 6-foot-11 forward Bol Dengdit scored 14 points and guard Alex Chaikin chipped in 11.

The Tritons shot 52% from the floor (26 for 50), including going 9 for 20 from 3-point range. Burke was 4 for 5 from beyond the arc.

Burke scored UCSD’s first five points on a 3-pointer and a layup after The Beach shot out to a quick 5-0 lead.

“Aidan is always ready to go, and we needed him at the start of this game,” UCSD coach Clint Allard said. “And he gave us the boost we needed.”

The Tritons led by four points at halftime and pulled out to a 66-52 lead with 7 ½ minutes to play after a 26-12 run. Long Beach State (2-8) never got closer than four points in the final minutes.

“It was a little bit back-and-forth,” said Allard. “I thought we battled all 40 minutes. It’s a good start, getting a road win to open conference play. The bench played great tonight.”

The San Diego State women (5-3) downed 9 of 16 3-point attempts in the first half while jumping out to a 14-point lead, then leaned on their defense to turn back a late rally by Pacific (4-5). Panganiban scored 13 points in the first half, including hitting three straight 3s. Forward Kennedy Lee finished with 14 points, with guard Nat Martinez adding 12 and Nala Williams chipping in 10 points and a team-leading eight rebounds.

But the physical, pressing Tigers battled back in the second half and had the last possession with the opportunity to tie or win it with a 3. But Martinez hounded Pacific guard Daria Nestorov and prevented a high-percentage shot, then got the rebound to end the game.

“I thought we made some strong stops at the end of that game,” said Aztecs coach Stacie Terry-Hutson. “Our physicality was improved today. And Martinez stood out. Hers is a solid all-around game. They rallied and we answered.

“We made it fun for the crowd. We’re still trying to put 40 minutes together. There were some cobwebs in the second half after not playing for almost two weeks. But we made some big buckets down the stretch. And we made some strong stops after they made some tough shots.”

Said Panganiban: “My teammates did a great job of finding me.”

Although the final margin was two points, the Aztecs trailed only once for a total of 10 seconds.

USD’s women (4-6) led throughout their game against Utah State. Owens had nine rebounds and three assists to go with her 25 points. USD had a 42-21 edge in rebounding thanks to 18 by freshman forward Ayla Williams, who was also USD’s second-leading scorer with 14 points. Hallie Rhodes scored 11 points and Lily Amor downed 3 of 6 3-point attempts for nine points.