Overview:
Aidan Mahaney scores 15 of his team-high 21 points in the first half while Miro Little leads UCSB with eight rebounds and six assists
LONG BEACH — UC Santa Barbara’s C.J. Shaw had trouble finishing his drives to the basket on Saturday at the Pyramid.
That is, until his big finish.
The freshman guard from Las Vegas scored on a pair of daring dashes through Long Beach’s defense in the final 2:24 to break a tied game and send the Gauchos on to a 74-71 basketball victory.
“C.J. Shaw didn’t play very well until the last two minutes of the game, and then he took over,” UCSB coach Joe Pasternack said.
“We took our lumps when Miro (Little) was out, but this is the kind of a game that shows how C.J. took advantage of all the minutes he got when Miro was out … He was in these moments.”
The victory, the fourth in a row for the Gauchos (13-7, 6-3 Big West Conference), keeps them just one game behind league-leading Hawai’i and UC Irvine in the league standings.
Aidan Mahaney scored 15 of his team-high 21 points in the first half.
But his last two points of the game were the most important.
Long Beach (8-13, 4-5) had answered Shaw’s two clutch baskets and a free throw by Hosana Kitenge with four points of its own. Isaiah Lewis’ pull-up jumper reduced UCSB’s lead to 72-71 with 36.4 seconds remaining.
But Mahaney ran the clock down before patiently wading through the key and then driving off Kitenge’s deep screen for a left-handed layup with 10.7 seconds left.
“Aidan has so much experience,” Pasternack said of the crafty play.
Mahaney, a senior transfer from UConn, made 8-of-13 shots which included 3-of-5 three-pointers and 2-of-2 foul shots. He also had three assists.
But Pasternack was more impressed with how he held Gavin Sykes, who came into the game averaging 19 points per game, to just two on Saturday.
“To me, that was the game,” he said.
Mahaney also held Cal Poly’s Hamad Mousa to 10 points — more than 10 under his average — in Thursday’s victory in San Luis Obispo.
“Earlier in the year, we were giving leading scorers 30 points, 25 points,” Pasternack said. “So to me, the biggest growth of our team is being able to take the other team’s best player out.
“To do that in back-to-back games … Aidan Mahaney was unbelievable on defense. Unbelievable.
“He gets a knock for, supposedly, being all about scoring and not defense.
“But I would flip it and say maybe his biggest value is defense.”
UCSB made five of its first six shots — the last two coming on three-pointers by Zion Sensley and Miro Little — to jump out to a 12-7 lead.
Mahaney scored three times on cuts to the basket during the first seven minutes to keep the Gauchos ahead, 14-9.
UCSB got more separation a few minutes later, 31-17, with an 11-2 run fueled by threes from Mahaney and Marvin McGhee IV.
The Gauchos dropped three more of the long-range bombs on The Beach — two by Mahaney and another by Sensley — in the last 2:14 of the first half to take a 44-29 lead.
UCSB out-shot The Beach 59.3% to 47.8% in the period while dominating the rebounding, 15-8.
The Gauchos cooled off in the second half with 37.9% shooting, with Shaw having four straight, contested layups rim out of the basket during one four-minute stretch.
Long Beach wound up out-shooting UCSB for the game, 49% to 48.2%
“We were just too stagnant on offense and it affected our defense,” Pasternack said. “We gave up 42 points in the second half and you just can’t do that, not against good teams.”
UCSB’s lead grew as large as 17 points, 51-34, after a pair of baskets by Hosana Kitenge in the first four minutes of the second half.
But the Gaucho center committed his fourth foul just 12 seconds later on a three-point play by Petar Majstorovic.
Kitenge had to sit out for nearly 10 of the final 15 minutes.
“We had some breakdowns defensively,” Pasternack said. “We’re fouling way too much. It’s a major issue. We have to fix that and get better at it.”
The three-point play triggered a big second half for Majstorovic, who scored 19 of his team-high 21 points in the final 17 minutes.
Long Beach guard Shaquil Bender made a trio of three-pointers while scoring 11 of his 15 points in the second half.
UCSB had made just one three-pointer in the period until Shaw came alive with a triple off Little’s pass. He finished with 11 points, as did Colin Smith, while Little contributed six assists and a game-high eight rebounds.
A dunk by Majstorovic and Bender’s final three tied the game at 67-all with 2:52 remaining, forcing Shaw and Mahaney to save the day.
“I thought we had a great, great first half,” Pasternack said. “Defensively, we were excellent.
“Second half, they threw a punch and we couldn’t withstand it. For whatever reason, we really struggle to put two halves together.
“But we willed it out and won it in a close game.”