Feb. 16, 2008

Final Stats

DAVIS, Calif. - UC Davis was defeated by UC Santa Barbara, 77-73, Saturday night in a hard-fought Big West Conference men's basketball match-up at The Pavilion. For the second straight game, UC Davis was paced by a career-high performance by Dominic Calegari. The sophomore led all scorers with 26 points and hauled in a game-high nine rebounds. UCSB was led by Ivan Elliott, who finished with 18 points and eight rebounds. UC Santa Barbara improved to 19-6 overall and 8-4 in the Big West. UC Davis fell to 8-17 and 2-10 in the conference.

UCSB led most of the night but never by more than nine points. The first such lead came early in the game as the Gauchos led 12-3 less than four minutes into the contest. The Aggies slowly battled back, and a Calegari three-pointer with 8:59 left in the half drew UC Davis within 17-14.

UCSB built the lead back to nine after a layup by Jordan Weiner at the 6:41 mark. It was back to nine points two more times as UCSB led 29-20 with 5:18 left in the half. The Aggies then went on an 11-2 run to tie the game. Calegari had four points in the run, which was capped off by a three-pointer by David Carter with 1:30 left in the half to make it 31-31. Carter finished the game with 14 points, and the teams went to the break tied at 33.

Two minutes into the second half, Aggie leading scorer Vince Oliver committed two fouls within an 11-second span and fouled out with 17:49 left in the game. From that point, UCSB built up another nine-point lead and owned a 51-42 advantage three minutes later.

As they did all night, the Aggies had a response. Their next three field goals were three-pointers. The first came from Nathan Clark, and the other two were delivered by Shane Hanson. The sophomore's second trey of that stretch pulled UC Davis within 54-51 at the 13:01 mark. From that point, the lead would never grow larger than six.

It was just a one-point lead with 5:30 left after Calegari connected on a jumper. UCSB then went on a 5-0 run over the next two minutes and led 69-63 with 3:09 to go. Calegari made two free throws before his dunk 11 seconds later pulled the Aggies within 69-67. A tip-in by Elliott with 1:36 left was matched by a Carter layup with just under a minute left to keep it a two-point game. The teams traded buckets again to make it 75-73 with five seconds left, and Alex Harris clinched the win for the Gauchos with two free throws with two seconds left.

"We fought hard tonight," said UC Davis head coach Gary Stewart. "In a situation like ours where things aren't going our way and we're struggling to get a win, it's hard sometimes to do that, especially with a young group. They showed great resolve. Tonight was a game about character. Although we didn't win the game, I felt we did everything we could to win. So, from a coaching standpoint, that part is pleasing."

Calegari's effort comes two days after setting his previous career-high with 25 points at Cal State Fullerton. He's averaging 23.0 points in his last three games. He finished the night against UCSB going 9-for-15 from the field and 6-for-6 from the line.

Hanson went 4-for-5, including 3-for-4 from beyond the arc, and finished with 12 points. Mark Payne posted eight points and seven rebounds. Nathan Clark came off the bench to score a season-high seven points.

UC Santa Barbara shot 53 percent while UC Davis went 22-for-43 for 51 percent. The Gauchos outrebounded the Aggies, 30-26.

UC Davis concludes its homestand Wednesday night against Cal Poly.