Bittersweet return

University of California, San Diego guard Jordan Lawley, a Tokay High graduate, dribbles the ball past Pacific's Joe Ford during Wednesday's game at University of the Pacific's Spanos Center. (Dan Evans/News-Sentinel)

Bittersweet return

Lawley nets 14 points, but UC San Diego falls to Pacific

By Richard Banas II
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Thursday, November 20, 2008 12:01 AM PST

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Despite his San Diego basketball team coming out on the wrong end of the score against the University of the Pacific on Wednesday night, former Tokay High star Jordan Lawley made his return to the Spanos Center a memorable one.

Lawley led the Tritons with a team-high 14 points, including two 3-pointers, but it was not enough to overcome a game-high 19 points by the Tigers' Anthony Brown as Pacific defeated UC San Diego 66-58 in preseason college basketball action.

"It was great coming back here to play in front of my friends and family," Lawley said. "I knew there was going to be a big turnout because we had a get-together for everybody at my parents' house the night before."

Lawley was 6-of-14 from the field and missed the only two free throws he attempted. He also had two steals, four fouls, four turnovers and no rebounds or assists and led all players with 32 minutes played.

Despite being buoyed by his own personal rooting section, Lawley, who was making his first appearance at the Spanos Center since a 78-66 win over Fairfield in the 2006 section quarterfinals, struggled with his outside shot early.

He missed his first four field-goal attempts and then heated up, scoring his first basket on a layup following a nice pass from point guard Kelvin Kim at the 6:10 mark of the first half to pull the Tritons within two (19-17).

Lawley then took matters in his own hands three minutes later, spinning past Pacific's 6-6 forward Joe Ford for a soft left-handed baby sky hook in the lane to make it 24-21. He then buried his first 3 of the game from the left perimeter with 2:26 before intermission to pull the Tritons within striking distance at 26-24.

"I was a little bit cold shooting the ball from the outside early on," said Lawley. "I decided to try and drive inside and get higher percentage shots or pick up some fouls to get to the free-throw line."

With Pacific dominating inside the paint behind the offensive play of the 6-7 Brown and 6-9 Sam Willard (12 points, 10 rebounds) the Tigers began to pull away from San Diego, going up 47-34 with 12 minutes remaining in the game.

But Lawley hit a 3 from downtown to make it 49-39, teammates Alan Husted and Kim both made a 3 and Lawley capped a 15-3 Triton run with a beautiful backdoor layin to bring San Diego within striking distance, 54-49, with just over two minutes remaining.

But that was as close as the Tritons (0-2) would get, as the Tigers (1-1) hit eight free throws in the final two minutes to secure the victory over the Division II school. Lawley finished with a layup at the buzzer for the final margin.

"Lawley is one of our better players and is a great team leader. He is just a joy to have on the team," San Diego head coach Chris Carlson said. "I am very excited about his future and he is just a very coachable player. He is willing to do whatever he can to help the team and he makes everyone around him better."

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