Overview:
Cole Anderson remains hot at the three-point line to lead UCSB with 19 points
Cal State Fullerton played the homewrecker for UC Santa Barbara men’s basketball once again.
The Titans took advantage of another poor first half by the Gauchos and beat them at the Thunderdome for the third-straight season, 73-69, in a Saturday afternoon matinee.
“Credit to Fullerton — they were ready to play,” UCSB coach Joe Pasternack said. “First half, we were not ready to play. That’s 100% on me.
“We just didn’t have any energy. There was no energy in the building … We didn’t have it to start the game.”
UCSB (11-7, 4-4 Big West Conference) trailed by as many as 15 points before rallying to within two with just 40 seconds remaining.
But Dominic Brewton made 5-of-6 foul shots in the final 32 seconds to end a four-game losing streak for Fullerton (9-10, 2-5).
The Titans shot 47.9% — their league-high so far — and matched their season-high with nine three-pointers.
“They shot 51% in the first half and in the second half they were 42%,” Pasternack said. “You have to win with defense and rebounding. The first half cost us this game.”
The Gaucho offense was able to keep pace with the Titans through the first eight minutes.
Junior guard Cole Anderson, who ranks 14th nationally with a three-point percentage of .450, staked them to a 17-13 lead by scoring 10 of his team-high 19 points. He made 5-of-12 three-pointers in the game.
But Grayson Carper shot the Titans into the lead with his own array of three-point missiles. He made four in the latter part of the first half, the last of which sent Fullerton into the locker room with a 38-28 lead.
“We have to be able to defend,” Pasternack said. “We let No. 21 (Carper) go 4-of-6 from three in the first half. He went 0-for-2 in the second half.
“How does that happen? We’ve got to go figure that out.”
Brewton increased the Titans’ margin to 45-30 on a seven-point binge in the first two-plus minutes of the second half. He finished with 20 points while fellow guard Max Jones made 4-of-6 threes and led Fullerton with 22.
“This is about our defense,” Pasternack said. “Two guys got 20-plus points (against UCSB).
“We’re an offensive-oriented team, a mindset, and that’s why you have a really good win on Thursday and then you drop one on Saturday.”
UCSB made 15 threes — its most in 11 years — for 97-69 win at Cal State Northridge on Thursday.
The Gauchos rank fourth in the nation in field-goal shooting (51.2%) and 13th in three-point accuracy (39.3%), and they weren’t too far off those marks on Saturday (46.9% and 36.4%).
But Pasternack said his team appeared to be “intoxicated” by all the threes they made on Thursday.
“This team has to be mature enough to be able to respond — and attitude is our one word — when something great happens or when something bad happens, a loss or a win,” he said. “We didn’t respond very well today.”
Ajay Mitchell, the returning Big West Player of the Year, perked up after a quiet first half to score 13 of his 18 points in the second half.
Josh Pierre-Louis, reduced by foul trouble to just 21 minutes, sparked a 7-1 surge by the Gauchos by taking a steal in for a layup. Anderson’s fifth three the next time downcourt reduced UCSB’s deficit to just 58-55.
But Pierre-Louis fouled out after fouling Jones on a made three-pointer for the second time in the game. Jones’ resulting free throw with 4:32 to go got the Titans’ lead back to seven points, 67-60.
A free throw by Yohan Traore and a three-point play by Mitchell rallied the Gauchos to within 68-66 with 40 seconds left.
Traore shot 4-for-4 from the field and 7-for-9 from the foul line to finish with a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds.
“Yo did really well,” Pasternack said. “His free-throw shooting has really improved. We probably should’ve gotten the ball to him more.
“But with all due respect, our offense isn’t the problem.”
It remained a one-possession game at 69-66 when Brewton made just 1-of-2 free throws with 32 seconds to go.
But Mitchell was called for a charging violation when he ran into Fullerton’s John Mikey Square while passing to Ariel Bland with 22.3 on the clock.
Kilian Brockhoff kept UCSB alive at 71-69 by making a three with 11.3 seconds left.
But after Brewton’s last two foul shots got the Titans’ margin back to four points with 10.7 on the clock, the slow-moving Gauchos failed to shoot until after the final buzzer.
The missing urgency on the final play has become a recurring mindset for this UCSB team.
“We’ve got to draw a line in the sand and have urgency and play with desperation no matter who we’re playing,” Pasternack said. “And we didn’t have that.”