UC Santa Barbara discovered the true meaning of the phrase “home for the holidays” in men’s basketball:
Play like your house is on fire.
The Gauchos, who were coming off only their fourth nonconference home defeat in the last eight seasons, defended the Thunderdome court with vigilance on Tuesday by holding Eastern Washington to 29.5% shooting in a 67-51 victory in the opening round of the Mountain to Sea Showcase.
The Thanksgiving Week event will wind up for UCSB on Friday at 7 p.m. against Mississippi Valley State.
“We’re 45-and-4 at home so you’re going to get everybody’s best shot, and if you’re not ready, it’s going to be a long night,” UCSB coach Joe Pasternack said. “That’s what happened to us last Wednesday.”
UCSB (5-1) committed 16 turnovers and gave up nearly 50% shooting in last week’s 79-76 home defeat to Texas-El Paso.
“We were a little bit relaxed coming in to that last game,” forward Max Murrell said. “We thought we had it won. We obviously didn’t.
“We had a good stretch of practices, got back to work … It was definitely a wake-up call.”
Murrell answered Pasternack’s call on Tuesday when summoned for his first start of the season. The 6-foot-9 transfer from Stanford made his first three shots from three-point distance and finished with 11 points while starting in place of the injured Colin Smith.
“We were missing Colin out there, but I’ve just got to be ready,” Murrell said. “I started in both of the scrimmages, but it was definitely an opportunity to get better.”
Deuce Turner came off the bench to lead UCSB with 17 points, 14 of which came in the second half.
“He won last year’s Sixth Man of the Year Award in the WCC and averaged 16 a game,” Pasternack pointed out. “We’re trying to make him a complete player and demand that from him, and I think he’s buying into that.
“Scoring just takes care of itself.”
Turner had made just 2-of-13 shots while scoring six points total in his previous two games.
Murrell had made just 1-of-8 shots — all three-point attempts — in those last two outings. But he set the tone on Tuesday with a pair of threes in the first 90 seconds of the game. He was 3-for-4 from three for the game.
“I missed a couple of shots last game and the game before, but all of them felt good,” he said. “This one didn’t feel any different, but it went in.
“You can’t always control that, but it definitely feels good when the first one goes in.”
Jason Fontenet II and Cole Anderson also made threes during the opening minutes. Fontenet finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
UCSB hit its first five shots and was 7-for-10 with no turnovers to take a 20-15 lead after eight minutes.
But both the Gauchos and Eagles struggled to score the rest of the half.
UCSB missed eight of its next nine shots, going 0-for-6 from three, while committing six turnovers — four on traveling violations — in the next eight minutes.
Eastern Washington slipped ahead at 26-24 when Emmett Marquardt converted a putback and a three on back-to-back possessions. He finished with a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Anderson ended the Gauchos’ dry spell with a three off a kick-out pass from center Kenny Pohto.
Fontenet added three free throws after getting knocked down on a three-point attempt with 2.9 seconds left before the break. The foul shots sent UCSB into the locker room with a 30-28 lead.
The Eagles snuck ahead 32-31 to start the second half before the Gauchos went on a 9-0 run. Turner capped the spree with six straight points. His hanging scoop shot improved UCSB’s lead to 39-32.
Eastern Washington made just five of its last 25 shots and was 25.9% for the period.
“In the second half, our defense prevailed,” Pasternack said. “Their point guard, No. 11 (Nic McClain) averages 18 a game, and he had seven.
“Their No. 9, (Andrew) Cook, averages 20 and he had 14. I thought we really had a good defensive evening.”
Cook did revive the Eagles by scoring back-to-back baskets to bring them to within 39-36 with 13 minutes remaining
But UCSB’s reserves turned the momentum back around. Chris Mitchell converted a three-point play and Ben Shtolzberg sank a 12-foot fadeaway jump shot to boost their margin to 44-36.
“It was great to have those guys come off the bench and play good minutes and rest our guys so they could play hard the whole game,” Pasternack said. “It was great to get Chris Mitchell some minutes, Ben some minutes, and I thought K.K. (Koat Keat Tong) did a nice job.”
Stephan Swenson, held scoreless through the first 30-plus minutes, made a trio of threes in the next six minutes to give UCSB more separation.
Pohto assisted four straight baskets which included Fontenet’s leaner in the lane, a three by Turner, and Swenson’s last two threes which put the Gauchos ahead 58-42 with 5:18 to go.
Pohto finished with eight rebounds and five assists.
Although UCSB out-rebounded the Eagles 37-35, Pasternack wasn’t happy with the 16 that Eastern Washington got off its own misses.
“That’s unacceptable,” he said. “We’re going to have a nice Thanksgiving morning — we call it ‘War Rebounding’ — at 9 a.m.”