March 6, 2010
Fullerton, Calif. - Senior center Dominic Calegari equaled his career high with 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds Saturday night to lead UC Davis to a 92-86 overtime Big West Conference victory at Cal State Fullerton.
The win lifted Davis (13-17, 8-8) into a tie for third place with Fullerton (15-14, 8-8) and Long Beach State in the conference standings. After tie-breakers, Long Beach is the No. 3 seed, Davis is No. 4 seed and Fullerton is No. 5 seed in next week's Big West Tournament at the Anaheim Convention Center. Fullerton will play Wednesday night at 6 p.m. vs. No. 8 seed Cal State Northridge.
Gerard Anderson and Jacques Streeter each scored 23 points for the Titans, who got a double-double from Jer'Vaughn Johnson with 14 points and 11 rebounds and Devon Peltier provided all 20 of Fullerton's bench points.
Julian Welch scored 18 off the bench and Adam Malik and Mark Payne each added 2 points.
Successive 3-point baskets in overtime by Malik, Welch and Calegari turned the tide for the Aggies, who trailed only once in the entire game at 77-75. Welch made a mid-court steal to set up Malik's trey which put Davis ahead to stay and Welch added two free throws before his trey made it 83-79 at 1:40.
The Aggies won the game from the arc, making 12 of 21 compared to Fullerton's 6 of 21. Davis also made 28 of 35 free throws while Fullerton made 24 of 30.
It was Davis' first overtime game of the year but the sixth for the Titans (4-2), who ended up 3-5 in conference play on their home court.
Fullerton forced overtime when Streeter hit a game-tying 3-pointer with 9 seconds left and Payne missed a baseline jumper at the other end.
"Jacques and Gerard met the challenge in the second half," said Burton, who pulled most of his starters during a lackluster first half. "Senior nights add a whole different deal to the game. I like them for the seniors but you never know how they are going to react.
"Calegari was the best player on the floor tonight, no question about it. Gerard was the only guy able to guard him and when he fouled out in regulation, that was huge."
The Titans never led in regulation, taking their only lead on two Streeter free throws at 3:49 of overtime that made it 77-75. Malik converted a mid-court Welch steal into a 3-pointer for a 78-77 Aggies lead. After a Fullerton turnover, Welch made two free throws at 2:22 to make it 80-77. Streeter hit a jumper but Welch hit a trey to make it 83-79. Johnson made two free throws but Calegari hit a trey to make it 86-81 and 90-86 with 7.3 seconds left was as close as Fullerton would get.
The Titans had a 9-4 run to open the second half and never again trailed by double figures. They finally caught up at 64-64 with 4:xx to go but Mark Payne answered with a 3-pointer from the corner at 4:38.
Fullerton drew within a point at 70-69 on a 3-pointer by Peltier at 1:38 before Calegari hit a pair of free throws after Anderson fouled out with 43 seconds to go. Streeter hit one of two free throws and Calegari made two more with 30 seconds left. Peltier made two with 23.8 seconds left before Todd Lowenthal made one of two.
After a 4-4 start, Davis dominated the first half, ending with a 38-28 margin. The Titans never led and trailed by as many as 13 points at 27-14 at the 4:03 mark.