HENDERSON, Nev. — Stephan Swenson had a long, fruitful Wednesday night to begin what he hopes is a long week for the UC Santa Barbara men’s basketball team.
The veteran guard scored 11 of his team-high 15 points in the last seven of his 35 minutes of playing time in a 71-66 victory over Cal State Bakersfield in the first round of the Big West Conference Tournament.
“The most important stat that Steph Swenson had was three assists to zero turnovers against full-court pressure,” UCSB coach Joe Pasternack said. “That’s amazing. That was the game right there.
“Unfortunately, we had to play him 35 minutes. That’s life. We needed him because of the way they play.
“He’s going to be doing a lot of cold-tubbing tonight, massaging his feet, and we’re hoping he can respond tomorrow at 6 p.m.”
That’s when the fifth-seeded Gauchos (20-12) will face No. 4 seed Cal State Northridge (22-9) at the Lee’s Family Forum in the tournament quarterfinals.
Wednesday’s game was a defensive tussle. UCSB out-shot eighth-seeded Bakersfield (14-19) by just a 42.3%-to-41% margin.
“Bakersfield is really a tough team to play,” Pasternack said. “They play so hard — every possession is a war. They grind it out and wear you down.
“I’m just so proud of our guys, especially in the first half. We defended at an amazing level.”
The Gauchos held the Roadrunners to 32.3% shooting in the first 20 minutes.
A three-pointer by Max Murrell triggered a 10-0 run which sent UCSB into halftime with a 32-25 lead.
Center Kenny Pohto contributed two free throws to the spree before running the court to convert Jason Fontenet’s fast-break pass. Fontenet led the Gauchos with five assists while also grabbing six rebounds.
“Kenny Pohto took it to another gear tonight,” Pasternack said. “That’s what we need from him to advance.”
Pohto finished with 13 points, making 4-of-7 shots and 5-of-8 free throws. He also led UCSB with seven rebounds.
“I’m a big guy and they don’t have that much size,” Pohto said. “I’ve got great people around me.
“My teammates pass me the ball and I score it. We win together.”
UCSB came into the game ranked fifth nationally in three-point percentage (.395) while Bakersfield was 17th (.383), but open threes were hard to find on Wednesday. The Gauchos made just 7-of-26 attempts (.269) and the Roadrunners weren’t much better at 30% (6-for-20).
Fontenet and Swenson joined forces in holding Jemel Jones, Bakersfield’s all-time scoring leader, to 6-of-15 shooting and no three-pointers in three attempts.
“We doubled him …We were all over him,” Pasternack said. “Wherever he was, we had a guy … Our team did an amazing job guarding him.
“Steph Swenson, we had to go with him when Jason got four fouls and we couldn’t play him. Steph Swenson did an amazing job.”
But Pasternack wasn’t happy with Bakersfield’s rebound advantage of 41-32.
“That’s not going to work to advance in March,” he said.
Roadrunners coach Rod Barnes hinted at his displeasure about the 24 fouls called against his team compared to the 13 whistled against UCSB. The Gauchos’ 20-of-29 free-throw shooting doubled Bakersfield’s 10-of-12.
“I don’t want to talk too much or say too much because I don’t want to get fined or be reprimanded,” he said. “I’ve been doing this too long to put myself in that situation.
“Give Santa Barbara credit. They played a good game. They’re well-coached. They’ve got really good players. And I’m thankful for our guys and the way they fought today.”
Colin Smith, the lone Gaucho to make more than one three-pointer (3-of-5), hit a pair of them midway through the second half to push UCSB ahead 55-48. He finished with 13 points.
Swenson added another three and then spun to the basket to score a finger-roll which boosted the margin to 60-50 with 6:12 to go.
“Their point guard is really good,” Barnes said. “He was hard to deal with.”
The Gauchos made just one more field goal, but also enough free throws (9-of-14) to hold off the Roadrunners.
The lone basket — a clutch baseline runner by Ben Shtolzberg — halted a five-point run by the Roadrunners and gave UCSB a 67-61 lead with 47.5 seconds remaining.
“I thought Ben Shtolzberg did an unbelievable job tonight, defensively and handling the ball for us,” Pasternack said. “The bottom line is that we won this game tonight because we had 14 assists to nine turnovers.
“You play a pressure team like that and you only turn the ball over nine times … That’s been our Achilles heel all year.”
Bakersfield’s Corey Stephenson answered with a scoring drive of his own less eight seconds later.
Fontenet missed two free throws with 27.5 seconds remaining. UCSB’s Ariel Bland, however, battled a pair of Roadrunners for the rebound long enough for Fontenet to dive on the basketball and call time out.
“Ariel Bland came off the bench and did a great job,” Pasternack said. “Some guys really stepped up — Koat Keat Tong specifically.
“K.K. hadn’t played in the last eight games, and he came in and was awesome for us tonight (six points and two rebounds in 12 minutes).
“We’ve really been missing him from a defensive standpoint. He did an amazing job.”
Bakersfield was forced to foul Fontenet again with 20.6 seconds left, and this time he didn’t miss.
Jaden Alexander kept Bakersfield’s hopes alive by making a corner three to reduce the Gaucho lead to 69-66 with 11.8 seconds remaining.
But Swenson capped the victory with two more free throws.
“It’s next game now,” Pohto said. “We’ve got three more games and let’s win all of them.”
