UC Santa Barbara Tops Santa Clara Basketball
Despite Kevin Foster's 25 points, Santa Clara lost to UC Santa Barbara 80-69 Saturday in the Leavey Center. Santa Clara falls to 4-4 on the season while UCSB improves to 4-3. Santa Clara travels to play at San Jose St. Dec. 10 at 7 P.M. in the Event Center.
Santa Clara shot 35.6 percent (21 of 59) from the field, including 36.4 percent from beyond the arc (8 of 22). The Broncos collected 41 rebounds, 12 assists, six steals and one block. They shot 59.8 percent from the free throw line (19 of 32) with 15 turnovers. UC Santa Barbara shot 44.4 percent (24 of 54) from the field, including 46.7 percent from beyond the arc (7 of 15). The Gauchos collected 34 rebounds, 11 assists, six steals and eight blocks. They shot 78.1 percent from the free throw line (25 of 32) with 16 turnovers.
Individually, the Broncos were led by Foster's 6 threes, tying his career high (6 of 12, 6 of 11 from three). Robert Smith scored 16 points (6 of 16, 2 of 6 from three). Four Broncos had six rebounds each: Marc Trasolini, Robert Smith, Evan Roquemore and John McArthur. Roquemore had a team-high four assists
Raymond Cowels III missed the game due to the funeral for his grandfather in Minnesota. Chris Cunningham missed the game due to a concussion.
For the Gauchos, James Nunnally scored 34 points, including hitting 14 of 16 from the free throw line. Orlando Johnson had 16 and Jaime Serna added 11.
The Broncos and Gauchos traded baskets to start the game, as Foster and Nunnally both hit threes. Ben Dowdell scored a lay up at 18:24 to put the Broncos up 5-3.
The Gauchos countered with a 7-0 run before Evan Roquemore's layup at 14:54 cut the Gauchos lead to 3. Nunnally connected on a runner in the lane followed by Jaime Serna's dunk to put the Gauchos up 14-7 at 13:47.
Santa Clara responded with a 7-0 run after McArthur converted on a jumper at 12:30. Nunnally put the Gauchos up 17-14 with a three at 11:29.
Troy Payne was called for an intentional foul at 10:43 and Jordan Weiner made both free throws for UC Santa Barbara. Jon Pastorek converted on a put-back to put the Gauchos up 20-14 at 9:37.
Foster knocked down his third three of the half at 9:37. After a UC Santa Barbara bucket Ben Dowdell converted a free throw at 8:56 to cut the lead to 22-18.
Foster connected on another three at 6:47 and McArthur converted a layup to put the Broncos up 24-23. The Gauchos responded with an 8-0 capped by Nunnally's three-pointer at 4:36.
Robert Smith scored his first points of the game on a floater at 4:08. Foster and Smith converted on back-to-back threes to put the Broncos up 31-30 at 2:35 which was the fourth lead change of the game.
Foster made two free throws to extend the Broncos lead to three at 1:34. Nunnally's and-one at 1:12 ended Santa Clara's 10-0 run. After Nunnally converted two free throws, Will Brew found the bottom of the net on a pull up jumper to put the Gauchos up 37-33.
Foster converted two free throws and Nunnally drained a three as time expired to put the Gauchos up 40-35 at the half.
In the first half, Santa Clara shot 42.9 percent (12 of 28) from the field, including 46.2 percent from beyond the arc (6 of 13). The Broncos collected 15 rebounds, seven assists, and four steals. They shot 83.3 percent from the free throw line (5 of 6) with 11 turnovers. UC Santa Barbara shot 48.3 percent (14 of 29) from the field, including 50.0 percent from beyond the arc (4 of 8). The Gauchos collected 16 rebounds, five assists, five steals and one block. They shot 72.7 percent from the free throw line (8 of 11) with 10 turnovers. Foster led the Broncos with 19 and Nunnally paced the UC Santa Barbara with 19.
Orlando Johnson opened up scoring in the second half by converting two of three free throws at 18:27. After Nunnally made two three throws, Foster connected on his 6th three at 17:17 to make it 44-38 Gauchos.
UC Santa Barbara pushed it's lead to 10 until Smith's two free throws at 14:08 cut the lead to 51-43. After four consecutive points from Johnson, the Broncos got a free throw from Niyi Harrison and a short jumper along the base line from McArthur at 10:03. The bucket ended a 6:07 span in which the Broncos were helped without a basket.
The Broncos and Gauchos traded points for the next several minutes as Roquemore knocked down 2 free throws at 5:06 to make the score 64-57 Gauchos. Smith's three at 4:39 cut the Gauchos lead to four.
Nunnally and Smith traded layups before Jamie Serna threw down a dunk at 3:36 to put the Gauchos up 68-62. Robert Smith answered with a jumper, but Johnson knocked down his first three of the game to put the Gauchos up 7.