LAS VEGAS, Nev. ? Junior Clint Allard scored 26 points to lead the UC San Diego men's basketball team to its second-straight upset victory over a top-5 ranked team, this time defeating 2nd-ranked Montevallo by a 61-60 score on Saturday afternoon at the Falcon Thanksgiving Classic in Las Vegas. The Tritons downed 4th-ranked Seattle Pacific by a 62-52 margin in their first game of the tournament on Friday afternoon.
With the victory the Tritons improve to 2-2 on the season while dropping the Falcons to 5-2. Both UCSD victories over the weekend came against teams that won their respective regions last year and qualified for the NCAA D-II Elite Eight.
Allard, the guard from San Jose, Calif., got off to a hot start, going 8-for-8 from the field that included a 3-pointer with 4:12 to go in the first half that put the Tritons up by a 33-19 margin. At the time, Allard had netted 20 of his 26 points and had out-scored the entire Montevallo team by himself, 20-19.
The Falcons put together a small run to end the first half and trailed by 35-28 margin at intermission.
Montevallo continued its streaky play through the first eight minutes of the second half, taking a 45-42 lead at the 12:19 mark after Greg Brown converted on an old-fashioned 3-point play, making a layup and a free throw following a Daniel Trautman foul.
Brown had a tip-in at the 6:35 mark to put Montevallo up by a 57-50 score before UCSD went on a 9-1 run to regain the lead with less than a minute to go after a 3-pointer from senior Robby Peters.
Montevallo briefly re-took the lead on a Brown jumper before Allard drained a mid-range jump shot with only five seconds remaining on the clock to give the Tritons the 61-60 victory.
The two victories in Las Vegas marks the first time since moving to the Division II level that the Tritons have notched back-to-back wins over ranked teams.
UCSD improves to 2-1 on the year against NCAA D-II squads. The Tritons dropped their season-opener to Division I San Diego State on November 15 before falling in double overtime on the road at Grand Canyon University on Monday, November 20.
Head coach Bill Carr and his squad returns home to RIMAC Arena next weekend for its home and CCAA opener, taking on Chico State at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night, December 1. The Tritons will also play Cal State Stanislaus on Saturday, December 2, at 7:30 p.m. inside RIMAC Arena.
