The air ball, which sailed out of bounds as the buzzer sounded, allowed the Aggies (8-10, 3-2 in conference) to avert losing a 69-51 lead they held with 7:20 left.
A furious UCI run that included six three-pointers, one more than the hosts (5-12, 3-2) had during the first 33 minutes, helped UCI scrap and claw within a possession of trying to force overtime.
Senior Brett Lauer hit a three-pointer with nine seconds left to pull UCI within 87-85 and UC Davis sophomore Mark Payne left the window open by missing the first of two double-bonus foul shots with five seconds left.
UCI, with no timeouts, hurried the ball upcourt and found Rembert, who double pumped, and then hoisted on his way down, to no avail.
“I knew I was outside [the three-point arc],” Rembert said. “They got a hand up and I just tried to get it under his hand and not get blocked. I just wanted to get it toward the rim.”
Hitting the rim was sometimes problematic for UCI, which totaled eight air balls (only two of which were blocked shots), including one Lauer baseline offering to beat the shot clock that hit the rear half of the side of the backboard.
UCI shot just 28% from the field before halftime (seven of 25), allowing Davis to seize a 39-26 advantage.
And if UCI was inspired by its halftime meeting, it did not show initially after the break.
Dominic Calegari, a 6-10 junior, finished an alley-oop dunk, which became a three-point play when he was fouled, to open the second-half scoring. About one minute later, Calegari took one step and dunked to cap a 7-2 Davis run to open the second half.
With 15:16 left in the game, the Aggies’ highlight reel continued, as Payne flushed a lob pass out of a half-court set, silencing most of the 2,646 in attendance.
