Box Score

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Brynton Lemar collected the first double-double of his career by finishing with 17 points and a career-high 11 rebounds in Saturday's Big West Conference game at the Thunderdome, the Aggies outrebounded UC Santa Barbara by eight and chopped a 13-point deficit to six with their 7-0 scoring run in the latter moments of the second half, but the Gauchos were able to withstand that late UC Davis charge to record a 62-55 victory.

Since the team has a bye on Thursday, the Aggies will enter Saturday's 9 p.m. home matchup vs. UC Irvine, televised across the nation on ESPN2, with a 10-16 overall and 5-8 Big West record. UC Santa Barbara improves to 13-12 and 7-5 with the result.

"(Brynton) really carried us offensively, as did Josh Fox tonight," said UC Davis head coach Jim Les. "I challenged everyone at halftime to come out and play with more passion, and I thought everyone responded, especially those two."

UC Davis showed the 2,116 fans in attendance why they are the No. 1 defense in the conference by forcing UCSB to shoot .333 overall (19-for-57) and .240 from three (6-for-25).

By comparison, the Aggies shot .389 (21-for-54) overall and .263 from distance (5-for-19). UC Davis also posted a .571 percentage at the line (8-for-14) vs. a UCSB squad that shot .857 at the stripe (18-for-21).

However, that 10-point difference at the free throw line, combined with the 24 points UC Santa Barbara scored off 20 UC Davis miscues, ended up being the difference in the game.

"With the way we are forcing teams to shoot against us ... we are right there. We know our margin for error is small, we just need to make sure that someone beats us, and we do not beat ourselves," Les said.

Down by 11 at halftime, UC Davis opened the second half with a 6-0 scoring run thanks to a jumper from Fox, and consecutive baskets from Lemar.

As action continued, both teams traded baskets until UCSB pieced together two brief scoring runs of four and five unanswered. With 6:14 remaining in the game, and the Gauchos leading by 13, UC Davis pulled within striking distance by scoring seven straight points.

After back-to-back baskets from Fox, Darius Graham canned a three near the Aggie bench to turn what was once a double-digit Gaucho lead into a two possession game.

When both teams returned to the court after the final media timeout of the evening, the Aggies' newfound momentum was halted by, what UC Davis' bench, and its fans, thought was a shot clock violation. Instead of giving the ball to the Aggies, with an opportunity to pull within as few as three points of the Gauchos, UCSB ended up sinking a three from the far corner to bump its advantage to nine points with just a few minutes remaining.

With UC Davis now forced to foul to preserve as much time on the clock as possible, the Gauchos ended up converting on five of their final eight free throw attempts to record the victory.


UC SANTA BARBARA 62, UC DAVIS 55

UC DAVIS (10-16, 5-8 BWC)
Fox, Josh 9-16 1-2 19; Lemar, Brynton 5-14 4-6 16; Graham, Darius 3-9 0-1 9; Monson, Neal 2-4 2-2 6; White, Lawrence 1-4 1-3 3; Goode, Garrison 1-3 0-0 2; Printup, Rogers 0-0 0-0 0; Schneider, Siler 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 21-54 8-14 55.

UC SANTA BARBARA (13-12, 7-5 BWC)
Vincent, Gabe 7-17 3-4 21; Childress, Eric 5-11 0-0 11; Brewe, Mitch 3-5 3-3 9; Bryson, Michael 0-3 8-8 8; Green, John 1-5 3-4 6; Beeler, Sam 1-1 1-2 3; Kupchak, Maxwell 1-6 0-0 2; Taylor, T.J. 1-3 0-0 2; Blackmon, Jarriesse 0-1 0-0 0; Hart, Alex 0-1 0-0 0; Smith, Dajuan 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 19-57 18-21 62.

UC Davis............................ 20 35 - 55
UC Santa Barbara.............. 31 31 - 62

3-point goals--UC Davis 5-19 (Graham, Darius 3-6; Lemar, Brynton 2-7; White, Lawrence 0-2; Schneider, Siler 0-4), UC Santa Barbara 6-25 (Vincent, Gabe 4-10; Green, John 1-4; Childress, Eric 1-5; Kupchak, Maxwell 0-2; Taylor, T.J. 0-2; Smith, Dajuan 0-1; Bryson, Michael 0-1). Fouled out--UC Davis-None, UC Santa Barbara-None. Rebounds--UC Davis 45 (Lemar, Brynton 11), UC Santa Barbara 32 (Bryson, Michael 7). Assists--UC Davis 11 (Graham, Darius 4), UC Santa Barbara 11 (Childress, Eric 4). Total fouls--UC Davis 17, UC Santa Barbara 20. Technical fouls--UC Davis-TEAM, UC Santa Barbara-None. A-2116