Box Score Box Score

Fresno Pacific will head home from the Dixie State Classic in Utah empty-handed as the Sunbirds dropped a nailbiter for the second straight night, falling 83-74 to UC San Diego.

The Sunbirds, who led by eight with under seven minutes to play, made just 13-of-30 (43%) from the free-throw line and couldn't hang on for the victory.

"This is two nights in a row that we've come up short against a talented team with a lot of returners," said head coach Chris Wright. "Both in tonight's game and last night, we had about a six minute stretch that just buried us. I have confidence that we are going to be a very good team, but we have to do a better job of rebounding and we have to make free throws."

John Taylor led the Sunbirds with 22 points. Matt Samuels had 12 and Malcolm Griffin added 10. Antonio Credit was 4-for-4 from the field with nine points, but battled foul trouble all night and would eventually foul out.

Tyler McGrath led the Tritons (1-1) with 33 points, hitting 10-of-17 from the field and making 9-of-9 from the line.

FPU led 60-52 after a jumper by Taylor with 7:35 to play. Taylor, for the second straight night, started slow but caught fire in the second half. He would score 18 of his 22 points after halftime.

The Tritons would promptly go on a 9-0 run to take the lead. After FPU briefly regained the lead on two Taylor free-throws, the Tritons would outscore the Sunbirds 13-5 over the next four minutes to put the game out of reach.

FPU returns home and after a travel day on Sunday will make their shortest road trip of the year, heading up the 99 for a Monday night game at UC Merced. The Sunbirds and UCM met twice last season, with the second-year program taking the Sunbirds to overtime in their first ever home game before FPU prevailed.

The Sunbirds then defeated the Bobcats by 20 in Fresno. The Bobcats lost to NCAA Division I Sacramento State yesterday 96-62.