Feb. 28, 2009
Final Stats
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - UC Santa Barbara overcame a 13-point first-half deficit and held off a UC Davis rally on its way to a 66-64 Big West Conference victory Saturday night at The Thunderdome. The Aggies'
Joe Harden led all scorers with 20 points, and Vince Oliver added 19. It wasn't enough, though, as James Nunnally led UCSB with 18 points. The loss dropped UC Davis to 12-17 overall and 7-8 in the Big West. UC Santa Barbara improved to 13-14 and 6-8.
UC Davis played without an injured Mark Payne but started fast against UCSB. Oliver scored 11 of the Aggies' first 15 points to stake the visitors to a 15-8 lead with 12:19 left in the first half. The lead grew to 23-10 on a Kyle Brucculeri three-pointer, and the Aggies equaled the same margin at 25-12 with 7:11 left in the half.
UC Santa Barbara began to chip away and pulled within 29-26 on a Nick Quick trey at the 3:12 mark. At that point, another Aggie was lost to an injury. Todd Lowenthal, who started in place of Payne, left the game with 2:26 remaining and did not return. UCSB would get as close as 29-28 before a three-point play by Harden with 1:26 left in the half led to a 32-28 Aggie halftime lead.
The second half was not nearly as fluid as the first as the teams combined for 34 fouls in the final 20 minutes. The second half featured a combined 53 free-throw attempts. The biggest difference in the game proved to be a season-high 22 turnovers for UC Davis, and 12 of those came in the second half.
UC Santa Barbara took its first lead at 38-37 on a Jaime Serna dunk with 13 minutes left in the game. UC Davis would reclaim a 42-38 lead after a Dominic Calegari three-pointer at the 11:20 mark. The Aggies led 45-43 with just over nine minutes left, but the Gauchos went on a 10-1 run and led 53-46 with 6:27 remaining.
The lead grew to as much as eight points, but UC Davis clawed its way back to within 62-60 after a three-point play by Harden with 48 seconds left. The Aggies would get within two once again on an Oliver layup with seven seconds remaining. At the other end, D.J. Posley missed two free throws setting up a missed half-court heave by Oliver as time expired.
UC Davis shot 54 percent in the first half but only 35 percent in the second half, finishing 45 percent for the night. UC Santa Barbara shot 44 percent. The Gauchos made just three of 15 three-point attempts and went 54 percent from the line. UC Davis also struggled from behind the arc with 5-for-17 accuracy but did shoot 71 percent from the line. Harden went 10-for-14 from the stripe while the team went 17-for-24.
Calegari finished with seven points, and Michael Boone came off the bench with six points.
UC Davis is next in action March 5 when it closes out its regular season at home against Cal State Northridge.
