Box Score LA JOLLA -- Cal State L.A.'s men's basketball team saw a late rally come up short and completed a lost weekend on the road in California Collegiate Athletic Association play.

The Golden Eagles fell behind by 14 points midway through the second half and couldn't recover in a 70-66 loss to UC San Diego Saturday night in RIMAC Arena. Cal State L.A. (10-6, 7-5 CCAA) started the second round of conference play with its fourth straight road defeat. UC San Diego (9-7, 5-7 CCAA) completed a weekend sweep and pulled to within two games of Cal State L.A., Cal State Stanislaus and San Francisco State in the conference race. The Golden Eagles, Warriors and Gators hold the fourth-through-sixth spots in the standings. The top six teams will qualify for the conference tournament.

Duce Zaid had a 21-point, 11-rebound double-double for the Golden Eagles, while Quinton Watkins had 18 points, all of them in the second half. Aaron Alston had 10 points and eight rebounds, while Solomon Singer had six points and six rebounds.

Drew Dyer had 22 points and seven rebounds to lead the Tritons, while Adam Klie had 15 points and six rebounds and James McCann had 13 points and 10 assists.

Cal State L.A. struggled offensively all weekend and shot just 33.8 percent (22-of-65) on Saturday. UC San Diego shot 41.5 percent (22-of-53). The Golden Eagles went 6-of-22 from 3-point range, while UC San Diego was 8-of-20 from 3-point range. Cal State L.A. was 16-of-19 from the free-throw line, while UC San Diego was 18-of-25 from the line.

The Golden Eagles had a 41-40 rebounding edge and committed just five turnovers -- none in the first half -- to nine for the Tritons.

The first half was tightly-contested throughout and neither team built a lead larger than five points. The Tritons had a 27-22 lead, but the Golden Eagles scored the final six points of the half to take a 28-27 halftime lead. Alston scored inside to make it 27-24, Joshua Munzon tied it with a 3-pointer and Jordan Mitchell hit a free throw to give the Golden Eagles the halftime lead.

UC San Diego, though, scored the first seven points of the second half and never relinquished the lead. The lead grew to 57-43 with 9:19 to go and was still 13 points, 60-47, with 7:35 remaining before the Golden Eagles finally got untracked. A three-point play by Watkins started a 9-0 run that included layups by Zaid and Alston and two free throws by Watkins. That cut the deficit to 60-56, but the Tritons responded with a 7-1 run to extend the lead to 67-57. Zaid scored four straight points to cut into the deficit once again and a 3-pointer by Watkins made it 68-64. The Golden Eagles got to within 69-66 on a Watkins layup with 15 seconds to go, but that was as close as they would get.

Cal State L.A. will return to action with a home game against Cal State East Bay next Friday night in the Eagles Nest.