UCSB showed Tuesday night it can play and win physical, grind-it-out basketball games.
The Gauchos banged bodies with Big Sky Conference favorite Weber State and came out victorious, 66-57, before 2,021 at the Thunderdome.
Orlando Johnson powered his way to a game-high 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Jon Pastorek hauled in a game-high 11 boards in the Gauchos’ first game against a Division 1 opponent. They are 2-0 on the young season.
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“The fact we were able to get, not a comfortable, but a relatively comfortable win at home; the fact we played against a very physical team that grinds the ball, I’m pretty pleased with the fact we held them to 57 points and found a way to fight and get a win,” said UCSB coach Bob Williams.
The Gauchos withstood a barrage of 38 3-point shot attempts by the Wildcats (0-2), who made only seven.
“Luckily they didn’t hit some of their threes because they are a good three-point shooting team,” Johnson said. “We just forced them into some contested shots. It worked out for us.”
What also worked for the Gauchos was their zone defense against Weber State’s big man, 6-8, 240-pound Steve Panos. He burned them for 21 points last year in Ogden, Utah.
“We kind of had chip on our shoulder,” said Pastorek about what Panos did last year. “I think we did a good job against him. I think the zone was effective against him. He wasn’t really able to get the ball in scoring areas.”
Panos attempted only two shots and finished with five points and five rebounds.
The Gaucho big men were definitely prepared to handle Weber State’s physical play inside. They won the rebound battle 43-42.
“We knew it was going to be a fight,” Pastorek said. “They got a lot of fouls called against them and that helped us in the end.”
The Gauchos were in the double bonus at the free throw line for the last 12 minutes of the second half.
“We got to the line 39 times and they got to the line 18 times. It shows who the most physical team is,” said Johnson.
“In the second half, we were more physical and we went at the rim,” Williams said. “The thing I liked when they made the run at us and they cut it — now it’s a ballgame — we got more physical, and we made plays in and around the rim.”
After trailing by as many as 17 early in the first half (39-22), Weber State started clawing back after an impressive slam dunk by Franklin Session. The Wildcats went on a 14-1 run, with seven points coming off three baskets by Kyle Bullinger, who had 12 points.
Wildcat guard Damian Lillard, who was a target of the Gaucho students for missing 10 3-point attempts in the first half, hit a trey — he turned to the student section and nodded after the shot — and cut the Gaucho lead to 43-41 with 9:17 to go in the second half.
Lillard led Weber State with 16 points.
UCSB’s Sam Phippen then made the plays of the game. He blocked a shot at one end of the floor and then raced down court and scored a layup off a Will Brew assist to put the Gauchos ahead 47-41. That started a 9-3 run.
“How good was that?” Williams raved. “That was huge play at at huge time. That’s what we need out of Phip, the big plays, the hard runs.”
Johnson, who earlier in the half crashed into the Gaucho bench and suffered a deep cut on his leg that required six stitches, grabbed scored on two offensive rebounds to put the Gauchos ahead 58-47 with 2:34 to play.
“It’s pretty deep cut, but had to finish the game and help my teammates win,” Johnson said.
“He’s just to load,” said Williams of the 6-5, 205-pound transfer from Loyola Marymount. “He presents match-up problems. You can see late in the game the wear and tear of it — of how hard he works, but how it easy it was to get the offensive rebounds and putbacks. He still had legs.”
Paul Roemer iced the game by making five of six free throws.
The Gauchos got off to a terrific start, roaring out to a 14-0 lead. Brew hit a tret and Johnson swished a spectacular fall-back 3-pointer during the fast start
Bullinger scored Weber State’s first basket at 15:36, and the Wildcats didn’t reach double figures until there was 7:20 left in the first half.
UCSB led 30-20 at halftime.
“This is a very good team,” Pastorek said of Weber State. “This was a real good challenge. I’m glad the way we played to get a victory, but we’re nowhere near perfect. There’s a lot of things we have to work on before we go into the USF game.”
The Gauchos play host to USF on Monday.
