STOCKTON – Sophomore Alan Williams had a double with 22 points and 12 rebounds for UC Santa Barbara, but it wasn’t enough as the University of the Pacific bench combined for 54 points to lead the Tigers to a 80-62 win over the visiting Gauchos on Thursday night.
Tony Gill came off the bench to score 17 points, including nine in the first half, to lead Pacific (8-7 overall, 2-1 in the Big West). Reserve forward Ross Rivera added 11 points.
UCSB (5-10 overall, 1-3 in the Big West) took an early 9-5 lead, but led by their bench, which scored 30 of its points in the first half, the Tigers stormed back to claim a 38-25 lead at halftime. Gill and Rivera led the rally with nine and seven points respectively.
The Gauchos outscored Pacific 8-3 to open the second half. Freshman Taran Brown, who was limited to five points on the night, scored his first two on a free throw line jumper to open things. Junior Kyle Boswell was fouled while attempting a three-pointer and made all three free throw attempts.
After a Lorenzo McCloud jumper and a free throw by Gill, Williams scored on a short jump-hook and was fouled. He made the free throw with 17:11 to go in the game, cutting the gap to 41-33.
The Tigers responded, however, and a 9-0 run was complete when Markus Duran drilled a three-pointer from way above the top of the key to give his team a decisive 50-33 lead with 14:52 left in the game.
UCSB clawed back and was within 60-48 when freshman Michael Bryson made a pair of free throws with 8:49 to play, but consecutive three-pointers by Sama Taku, Travis Fulton and Gill, and a lay-up by Gill, stretched the edge back to 71-48 with 6:26 remaining. The lead never dropped below 18 the rest of the way. The Tigers went 13-for-28 from three-point range, 46.4%, including 7-of-13 in the second half, 53.8%.
“I wasn’t happy with our offensive execution tonight,” said Gaucho head coach Bob Williams. “I didn’t think we were sharp and thought we made some unwise choices with the ball. You’ve got to give them credit, they did a nice job defensively, but I tonight I thought we were our own worst enemy.”
Santa Barbara had 13 turnovers in the game and forced Pacific into just five. The Gauchos were also beaten on the glass by a 31-26 margin.
Boswell joined Williams in double-figures for UCSB as he scored 15 points. Williams added three blocked shots to his double-double and sophomore T.J. Taylor equaled his career high with nine assists. As a team, the Gauchos made just five three-pointers (in 14 attempts), well below their season average of nine.
UCSB remains on the road and will travel to UC Davis on Saturday for a 7:00 p.m. game against the Aggies.
The Gauchos will return home for three straight after Saturday and first up will be Blue-Green Rivalry foe Cal Poly. The Mustangs will venture into the Thunderdome on Saturday, Jan. 19 for a 4:00 p.m. game that will be televised live on Fox Sports Prime Ticket.
