UC Davis had a point-counterpoint for Stephan Swenson, the buzzer-beating point guard of UC Santa Barbara’s last two men’s basketball victories.
Aggies’ point guard TY Johnson denied Swenson any shot at his third-straight, game-winning three-pointer, scoring 15 of his 35 points in the final 7:09 to foil another Gaucho comeback, 64-60, at the Thunderdome on Saturday.
“He was a dominant, dominant guard,” UCSB coach Joe Pasternack said. “He showed why he’s the best point guard in our league and the leading scorer in our league.”
The Gauchos trailed by as many as 18 points with 18:20 to go before rallying to within a basket in the next 10 minutes. Davis, however, never let them get even.
“I just told our guys this: ‘They have talent, we have talent … Now it comes down to, are we going to play for 40 minutes?’” Pasternack said. “We didn’t do that, and we haven’t done that in the last three games.
“Until we can put together two halves, we’re not going to be a consistent basketball team.”
The defeat snapped a five-game winning streak for the Gauchos (12-6, 4-3 Big West Conference), although they needed Swenson to rescue them with last-second three-pointers in their previous contests against Cal Poly and UC Riverside.
The victory moved the Aggies (11-8, 5-3) past UCSB in the league standings.
The Gauchos trailed 29-17 at halftime — their fewest point total in a first half since they were held to just 15 at Davis in 2017.
Aggies’ coach Jim Les has had their number the last two years, having now swept the season series for the second-straight season.
Former walk-on Nico Rocak, who left UCSB to accept a scholarship at Davis four years ago, continued to be a thorn in the Gauchos’ side with 10 points on 5-for-6 shooting and 10 rebounds. Two of his three double-doubles this season have come against UCSB.
The Gauchos trailed Riverside at halftime on Thursday, 28-23, and they were another half-not during first 20 minutes on Saturday. They ran little recognizable offense, resulting in 25.9% shooting and nine of their 11 turnovers.
They made half of their attempts in the second half (12-for-24) but were still out-shot for the game, 47.9% to 37.3% — their lowest percentage of the season.
“Somehow, we’ve now had good second halves and we can’t put the first half together with the second,” said center Kenny Pohto, UCSB’s leading scorer with 17 points. “We’re going to have to be able to put all 40 minutes together and have two good halves.”
It might have helped to work something for senior guard Cole Anderson, who had made 14-of-18 three-pointers in the previous three games. His teammates got him zero shot attempts in the first half.
“We settled for poor shots, and it was a really, really tough half for us,” Pasternack said.
Anderson helped fuel the second-half rally with a pair of threes and eight points. He’s now shooting 51.8% from three on the season (43-for-83, 2.44 per game), but remains just one make short of the 2.5 per game necessary to qualify as the NCAA Division 1 leader.
Johnson created his own shots, making 12-of-23 which included 2-of-5 three-pointers.
He was so crafty that one official couldn’t believe that he had slipped and fallen on his own, untouched, while driving through the key with 14.2 seconds to go.
The referee called Jason Fontenet II for a phantom foul, and Johnson made both free throws to give the Aggies a more comfortable 62-57 lead.
“They can fine me for whatever … I’ve never had another official come up to me and tell me, ‘He got it wrong … He got ya’ … I feel terrible,’” Pasternack said. “I don’t know if he got it wrong — the other official told me.”
Although Deuce Turner’s three-pointer reduced UCSB’s deficit to 62-60 with 6.5 seconds left, Johnson made two more foul shots to complete the Davis victory.
Johnson went 9-for-9 from the foul line. He drew several fouls by kicking out his left leg while shooting to draw contact with his defender before falling to the court.
Swenson struggled mightily against him in the first half, making just 1-of-5 shots and failing to get the Gauchos into offense. But he helped engineer the second-half comeback by handing out five of his seven assists. He finished with 10 points.
Colin Smith, a sophomore transfer from Vanderbilt, benefitted the most from Swenson’s second-half playmaking. He made four straight threes — three assisted by Swenson. Pohto found him on the fourth one which reduced UCSB’s deficit to just 47-45 with 8:41 to go.
Smith finished with 14 points, all in the second half, after going 0-for-5 in the first half. He admitted to hunting his shots too much during the first 20 minutes.
“I want to thank my teammates, first off,” he said. “Obviously, I wasn’t sharing the ball very well in the first half and they just stayed by my side and told me, ‘Just keep sharing the ball,’ and I’m just grateful that I’ve got teammates like that.”
Missed free throws kept UCSB from completing its comeback. The Gauchos were a perfect 8-for-8 until they made just 6-of-11 in the last 5:35.
“Free throws win games, and we missed a lot of free throws at the end,” Pasternack said. “That was tough.
“But this was about our first half. Our first half killed us. We had 17 points.
“We held them to 29 points at 42%, but we didn’t’ defend in the second half. They shot 55% … and we had no answer for TY Johnson.”