Hawkins paces Aggie men to exhibition win

Sophomore Corey Hawkins scored a game-high 19 points — all of them in the first half — as UC Davis opened a 29-point halftime lead on its way to an 82-50 win over UC Santa Cruz in a men’s basketball exhibition game at The Pavilion on Thursday night.

The matchup was the first of two home exhibitions for the Aggies who will open the regular season on Nov. 9 at Oklahoma State of the Big 12 Conference. Guard Ryan Sypkens, coming off an injury that limited him to just four games last season, added 13 points for UCD, while sophomore J.T. Adenrele scored 11.

The Aggies canned 13 shots from 3-point range, including four from Hawkins and three from Sypkens, and outscored the Banana Slugs, 40-22, in the paint.

“I thought we did some good things, some things that transferred from the practice floor to the game-night floor,” said UCD’s second-year head coach Jim Les. “And then we had some breakdowns, some areas where we weren’t as consistent, especially defensively and rebounding that we’ve got to clean up.

“So, there was a lot of good (and) some not-so-good that we’re still a work in progress. But that’s good because it gives me some fodder when we get to practice (Friday).”

The teams were close in the early going, forging four ties over the first 11 minutes of the half. But UCD went on a 20-2 run over a six-minute stretch to break open the game and lead 33-15 with four minutes to go in the half. Hawkins had 12 points in that run, while Sypkens added back-to-back treys.

Hawkins added another 3-pointer and Tyler Les and freshman Olivier-Paul Betu each had long balls of their own as the Aggies led 46-17 at halftime.

UCD ended with a 46-45 advantage on the boards with Les, Adenrele and Hawkins grabbing six each.