IRVINE – Darren Moore scored 21 points, including 12 in the second half, and UC Irvine held off a furious rally in the final minutes to beat UCSB’s men’s basketball team 66-63 on Saturday night.
The loss ends a two-game winning streak for the Gauchos (13-10 overall, 6-6 Big West) while the Anteaters (11-15 overall, 4-8 Big West) halted their five-game losing streak.
UCSB was led by Orlando Johnson who scored 18 points and Justin Joyner who added 12.
The Gauchos led 48-45 when Jon Pastorek made one of two free throws with 8:14 to play. At that point, UCI went on an 11-0 run that was capped by back-to-back three-pointers from Pavol Lasonsky and Mike Wilder to give the Anteaters a 56-48 lead with 3:57 to play.
The lead was 64-54 when UCSB tried to battle back.
James Nunnally and Joyner sandwiched three-point baskets around a pair of free throws by Rembert to carve the lead to 66-60. After Rembert was intentionally fouled and missed the front end of a one-and-one, Joyner made his fourth three-point basket of the game to narrow the Irvine lead to 66-63 with 37.2 second to play.
Rembert was fouled again, and once more he missed the front end of the one-and-one. Johnson got the rebound for the Gauchos who got three attempts to tie the score on the other end. The final attempt, by Johnson, went off the back of the iron with one second left. Jon Pastorek collected the rebound, but the buzzer sounded to end the game.
“We really settled for three-pointers tonight and that hurt us,” said UCSB head coach Bob Williams. “They (UCI) wanted to take O.J. and Nunnaly out of their games and I think they did a nice job of that, but we have to be more patient and not settle for so many threes.”
The Gauchos made 12 out of season-high 32 three-point attempts. They took just 24 two-point shots, making nine. Overall Santa Babara shot just 37.5% from the field. Johnson had nine rebounds to go with his team-high 18 points. Joyner had five assists. Nunnally, who came into the game averaging more than 17 points, was held to just eight.
In addition to his 21 points, Moore had nine rebounds. The 6-foot Rembert finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and nine assists for the Anteaters who shot 46.9% overall and made 8-of-16 shots from three-point range.
The Gauchos return home on Wednesday, Feb. 16 to host Cal State Fullerton at 7:00 p.m.
