HAYWARD, Calif. -- The Cal State East Bay men's basketball team's California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Tournament run came to an end Friday evening with a narrow 72-68 loss to UC San Diego in front of a tremendous crowd at Pioneer Gymnasium.

The No. 3 seed Pioneers trailed the No. 2 seed Tritons by 18 points midway through the second half before rallying back to get within one. However, they weren't quite able to complete the comeback against a sharp-shooting UCSD squad, which made 45 percent of their three-pointers to squeak out the four-point win and advance to Saturday's CCAA championship game.

East Bay trailed most of the first half as they got off to a slow start offensively. All-CCAA honorees Evan Wardlow and Nai Carlisle both went scoreless in the first 20 minutes. The exception to those struggles was All-CCAA senior Juwan Anderson, who had the hot hand early and carried the Pioneer offense in the opening half.

Anderson knocked down his first four attempts from long distance and tallied 17 points before halftime. Nevertheless, a buzzer-beating triple by UCSD's Christian Bayne gave the Tritons a 10-point advantage at the break.

CSUEB still trailed by nine points eight minutes into the second half, and then the Tritons rattled off an 11-2 scoring run to go ahead 64-46 with 9:39 to go. It appeared as though UCSD was going to pull away, but the Pioneers responded with the poise of a veteran team. As they seemingly have all season, East Bay refused to roll over, ratcheted up their defense, and rallied back. 

Trailing by seven with five minutes to play, All-CCAA forward Ant Navarrete's shot attempt in the post rimmed out, but the rebound was swatted out to Anderson at the top of the key. The senior stepped into an open three-pointer and hit nothing but net, sending the near-capacity crowd at Pioneer Gym into a frenzy. A minuter later, two free throws by Wardlow made the score 67-66. 

But unfortunately, Bayne came back down the court and buried a three to put the Tritons back up four. East Bay had a couple chances, but they weren't able to get another big shot to fall in the last two minutes as UCSD hung on to win. 

Anderson scored a game-high 23 points, dished out six assists, and went 5-for-7 from beyond the arc -- an impressive performance in his final home game for CSUEB's all-time assist leader.

Navarrete finished with 19 points on 8-for-13 shooting. Fifth-year senior Patrick Marr added eight points and five boards and went 3-for-6 from the field to cap off his collegiate career.

As a team, the Pioneers shot 42 percent from the floor and went 18-for-20 at the line. They committed just eight turnovers, but lost the rebounding battle to the Tritons 36-29. 

On Sunday evening, the NCAA Division II Tournament bracket will be announced, and it's unlikely the Pioneers will make the eight-team West Regional field despite their 22-8 overall record. It's a frustrating end to the season, as East Bay fell just one win short of their first CCAA regular season title, and tonight fell four points shy of a chance to play for the tournament championship. 

But with some time to reflect, these student-athletes can take pride in the fact that they played for the winningest Pioneer team of the century, setting a new standard of excellence in Hayward. East Bay's berth in the CCAA Tournament this season was the program's first in 10 years as members of the conference. Hopefully the first of many.