UC San Diego Advances in NCAA Playoffs : College basketball: Tritons defeat Claremont-Mudd, 76-72.

The fans cringed, but player confidence was at an all-time high Saturday night at UC San Diego’s Triton Gym.

When Tim Rapp, the UCSD men’s basketball team’s leading scorer, golden boy, and marquee hero went down with a sprained left ankle in the second round of the NCAA Division III Western Regionals, the only clammy palms were in the stands.

UCSD Coach Tom Marshall and the bench beside him were the picture of calm.

Tritons know best.

UCSD defeated Claremont-Mudd, 76-72, and advanced to the sectional semifinal Friday in the Great Lakes Region.

It is the second consecutive year UCSD (23-3) has appeared in the playoffs. The Tritons improved their NCAA post-season record to 1-1.

When Rapp landed on a Claremont-Mudd player on his way down from a layup at 19:19 in the second half, that sent a signal to 5-foot-9 junior guard Darvin Jackson that his role was about to change--drastically.

Jackson entered the game with a 5.6 scoring average and a reputation of taking as few shots as possible.

“He shoots the ball maybe three times, most, in a game,” said sophomore guard John Spence, who finished with 10 points off the bench.

Yet Jackson finished with 13 points, all in the second half, after Rapp was in bandages and starting guard Tom Shawcroft, another starter, sat helpless on the sidelines with four fouls.

“I’m pretty much a role player,” Jackson said. “But when Timmy went down, I didn’t want anyone to say that Timmy was the scapegoat. That we lost because he was playing.”

There would have been lots of scapegoats had UCSD’s tentative play of the first half continued into the second.

The Tritons were 13 for 34 from field-goal range, and 1 for 8 from the three-point mark in the first. The free-throw line, where they hit 7 of 8 attempts, was the saving grace that allowed them to take a 34-33 lead into the locker room.

“Both teams came out a little bit scared,” Marshall said. “When you have the No. 1 and the No. 2 teams in the region playing, each team is pretty aware that the other team is capable of scoring, and as a result, no one scored.”

UCSD never trailed by more than two in the game.

The Tritons led 46-42, when Claremont-Mudd’s Henry Albrecht came up with a slam dunk that sent shivers up UCSD’s collective spine.

The Stags hit two more baskets to take a brief 48-46 lead.

But it was USCD’s game after that.

Jackson hit from the inside, the outside, made two timely steals and made mass confusion of Claremont-Mudd’s humbled offense.

Said Stag Coach David Wells: “Darvin is the most underrated player on that team. If I were to pick an MVP on that team, it would be him. He did an outstanding job on defense. That’s where he’s really outstanding. He tends to take you out of the things you like to do.”

Junior Rick Batt hit a turnaround jumper with 1:06 left to put UCSD up 72-66. Claremont-Mudd sandwiched two three-pointers around a layup by Jackson for the 75-72 lead with 22 seconds left.

Jackson was fouled and hit the first end of the one-and-one.

Then, with 10 seconds left, Tommy Shawcroft (14 points) forced a steal, was fouled and made his second free throw.

Chris Greene, the Stags’ leading scorer with 19 points, said UCSD took them out of their offense.

“We couldn’t execute the way we wanted to, especially down the stretch. They played some pressure defense on us.”

Unheard from much of the night was UCSD’s Gordon McNeill, who finished with four points. But Marshall said he was a factor, just a quiet one.

“Defensively he did some things that you can’t see, he said. “Like Shawcroft’s last steal? He caused that.”