Overview:
Seattle University, which beat Stanford earlier this season, will face the Gauchos at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the tournament’s championship game
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — UC Santa Barbara wouldn’t win any beauty contests with Friday’s performance at the Resorts World Classic, but it won a men’s basketball game because Miro Little was a perfect 10.
The junior transfer made all 10 of his free throws which included the game-winning pair with three seconds remaining to give UCSB a 72-70 victory over Lehigh in an opening game of the Resorts World Classic.
“It was Miro’s second 10-for-10 game,” UCSB coach Joe Pasternack said. “That’s huge.”
The victory will pit the Gauchos (5-2) against Seattle (5-1) in Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. championship game.
Little, who also made all 10 of his free throws in a win at Sacramento State, led the Gauchos with 20 points. He’s shooting 92.5% (37-for-40) from the foul line this season.
UCSB (5-2) needed to sink 28-of-32 free throws to survive another dismal shooting performance in live action. It made just 37.5% of its field-goal attempts and 16.7% of its three-pointers.
“We went 2-of-12 from three and found a way to win,” Pasternack said. “That’s what this team is going to have to do — they’re going to have to learn to defend, (and) we rebounded 37-to-28 on the boards.”
The Gauchos needed every one of their 15 offensive rebounds to survive Lehigh’s 11-for-27 shooting from three.
UCSB has had plenty of opportunities to get its own misses of late. It’s shot just 26.6% from three (17-for-64) and 38.5% overall (69-for-179) in its last three games against NCAA Division 1 competition.
Injured guard Jason Fontenet II missed his second-straight game and will not play in Saturday’s tournament final.
“It’s obviously hard without Jason,” Pasternack said. “He’s been a huge part of what we’ve done the last two years, and this year.
“Look, every game is going to be a war — it just is for us. We’re just trying to find ourselves right now.
“That’s what this tournament is, to get really ready for next week’s conference play. That’s where it matters.”
The Gauchos missed six of their first seven shots to fall behind 10-2 after 5½ minutes.
Their trailed by as many as 10 points, 28-18, with six minutes to go in the first half.
But two baskets by Aidan Mahaney — the latter a three-pointer — served as the bookends to a 15-4 run that gave UCSB its first lead of the game.
C.J. Shaw, playing before a hometown crowd, contributed a three-pointer, three free throws and a steal to the spree.
Mahaney’s three finally put the Gauchos ahead, 33-32, with 1:10 left in the first half. He scored all 11 of his points in the first half.
Defense played a role in UCSB’s comeback. Little had three of the Gauchos’ 10 steals.
“The biggest indicators of the game were our turnovers in the first half and offensive rebounding in the second half,” Lehigh coach Brett Reed said. “Our guys were battling and fighting, but we just can’t give them extra opportunities.”
UCSB built its biggest lead of seven points, 41-34, on consecutive offensive rebounds.
Colin Smith got the first one with a tip-in. Evans Kipruto collected the next Gaucho miss and was fouled. He made both free throws to increase the lead to 41-34.
“We’ve been on Colin really hard about rebounds,” Pasternack said. “He had five offensive rebounds … That’s who he has to be because you can’t control your three.
“You have to be able to add value if your shot’s not falling.
“That’s for all these guys, and our shots weren’t falling today, for whatever reason.”
Smith and Zion Sensley had eight rebounds apiece for UCSB. Sensley also scored 10 points while going 6-for-6 from the foul line.
“Zion’s effort on the glass has really been huge,” Pasternack said.“We’ve got to keep that going.”
Nasir Whitlock rallied the Mountain Hawks by scoring 19 of his 21 points in the second half.
His three-pointer put Lehigh in the lead, 64-63, with 3:24 remaining.
Hank Alvey, who led the Hawks with a career-high 22 points, hit another three to see-saw them back ahead, 67-66.
“He was taking on a tough defensive assignment, scoring on the interior, made two perimeter shots, and drew seven fouls,” Reed said. “Between him and Nas generating 12 fouls drawn, that’s a big part of the game.”
UCSB center Hosana Kitenge answered both of Lehigh’s late threes by powering inside for back-to-back, reverse layups. The second one put the Gauchos ahead 68-67 with just under two minutes remaining.
Kitenge finished with 12 points and four rebounds despite sitting out more than half the game in foul trouble.
“He really cares,” Pasternack said of his spirited play. “We’ve got to keep him out of foul trouble, that’s going to be a big deal. But he had some huge baskets for us down the stretch.”
Smith, UCSB’s leading scorer on the season with a 14.2-point average, made just 2-of-9 shots on Friday, but his last basket was critical. His jumper increased the Gaucho margin to 70-67 with 1:08 to go.
Whitlock’s third and last three tied the game with 11 seconds left. But Little drove the ball right back downcourt and was fouled by Peter Kramer while going to the rim.
Little made both foul shots, and Whitlock’s desperation three at the buzzer missed, giving UCSB its victory.
“Every game is a battle, and I thought our guys really battled at the end,” Pasternack said.