LONG BEACH — UC Santa Barbara’s shots may have been off the mark, but its defenders marked their men when it counted in Saturday’s men’s basketball game at Long Beach State.
UCSB held The Beach to 32.7% shooting which included two stops in the final 29 seconds to hold on to its 58-56 victory at the Walter Pyramid.
“It was a terrible shooting night for us, but it was a spectacular defensive performance,” coach Joe Pasternack said.
The victory moved the Gauchos (18-10, 10-7 Big West Conference) ahead of UC Davis and into sole possession of fifth place in the league standings. They also clinched one of the eight spots in the Big West Tournament.
UCSB moved within one game of fourth place UC Riverside (18-11, 11-6) with three games remaining. A No. 4 seed would earn the Gauchos a first-round bye in the Big West Tournament.
Pasternack, who explained the scenario to his team before last Saturday’s loss at UC Riverside, said he won’t do that again.
“When you start thinking about the future, that’s when your mind gets totally distracted from the things that go into winning,” he said. “Defending your man, defending as a team, rebounding, and not turning the ball over goes out the window.
“And then, inevitably, you don’t get to move up the standings. So we’re all focused on one thing: Go 1-and-0.”
UCSB came into the game ranked eighth nationally in three-point percentage (.394) and 44th in field-goal percentage (.478). It fell far short of both marks on Saturday (.309 and .241).
Long Beach (7-21, 3-13), which suffered its 11th straight defeat, gave up nothing easy on the post. The Gauchos wound up settling for more shots from beyond the three-point line (29) than from inside it (26).
Gaucho center Kenny Pohto got only four shots, making two, although he made The Beach pay for its physical play. He outperformed his season free-throw percentage of 64.6% by making 7-of-8 to finish with 11 points.
“He was huge at the free-throw line,” Pasternack said.
UCSB went 17-for-19 from the foul line as a team.
The Gauchos missed eight of their first nine shots, seven of which were three-point attempts. Their only basket in those five minutes was Colin Smith’s off the bench.
Smith, a 6-foot-8 sophomore transfer from Vanderbilt scored 13 points in 18 minutes.
It was the most he’s played since the double-whammy of a concussion and a sprained ankle had kept im out of 14 games including seven in a row before Thursday’s game against Cal State Fullerton.
“We really missed Colin,” Pasternack said. “He played in 12 games before last night, and he’s only been healthy in eight.
“He’s been our huge missing piece this year … He gives us a dimension of offensive rebounding, a dimension of scoring inside and outside, and experience.
“He was under a minutes restriction the last two games, so I’m subbing him in and out just to make sure we hit those times.”
The Beach was also off the mark early, but it rebounded its misses. Six of its 13 offensive rebounds came in the first five minutes to earn it an 8-3 lead.
“Our two (most important) categories are turnovers and rebounding,” Pasternack pointed out. “We turned the ball over too much, especially at the end, and we got outrebounded (26-23), but we found a way … and good teams on the road find a way.”
Cole Anderson settled UCSB down with back-to-back shots including a three. The Gauchos finally caught Long Beach on Smith’s consecutive baskets.
Stephan Swenson led the Gauchos with 16 points, but he struggled mightily in the first half. His lone make in eight attempts during the first 20 minutes was a long three that put UCSB ahead 17-14 with 6:40 to go in the period.
The Gauchos didn’t make another basket the rest of the half, but 10-for-10 free-throw shooting kept them in the lead, 27-22.
UCSB shot 25% overall and 20% from three (3-for-15) in the first half. The Beach was only slightly better overall at 27.6% but it also missed all eight of its three-point attempts. It sank just 2-of-15 threes for the game.
Swenson found his touch early in the second half, making back-to-back threes to sandwich another by Max Murrell.
The Gauchos appeared to be running away with the game when Swenson beat the 30-second clock with a running hook shot — the only two-point basket he made in six tries. It capped a 10-2 run to improve their lead to 58-47 with 3:14 remaining.
UCSB, however, never scored again. It came up empty on five straight possessions by missing two shots and committing three turnovers — the last two against Long Beach’s full-court press.
The Beach scored the game’s last nine points, five on free throws. The last of Devin Askew’s team-high 15 points came on a pair of foul shots that reduced the Gaucho lead to 58-56 with 37.7 seconds to go.
Long Beach went 18-for-19 from the free-throw line.
UCSB closely contested Long Beach’s last two shots, however. The first was a fade-away jumper by Askew, and the second a desperate three by Kam Martin that caromed hard off the backboard.
“That was awesome, and they also got a shot-clock violation toward the end of the game,” Pasternack said. “On the road, you’ve got to be unbelievable on defense, and this was a spectacular defensive performance.”