LAFAYETTE, La. – A day after spending nearly 14 hours in airplanes, buses and airports, resulting in a 1:30 a.m. arrival at its hotel in New Orleans, UC Santa Barbara settled in after an up-and-down first half to post an 85-77 win at Louisiana-Lafayette on Sunday.

The Gauchos (10-4), winners of four in a row and nine of their last 10, were supposed to be on an 11:30 flight from Santa Barbara to Dallas and then a connecting flight to Lafyette on Saturday, but things didn't go as planned. After a long delay due to severe weather in Dallas, the team boarded its flight, but after sitting on the plane for about half an hour, everyone was asked to disembark and, ultimately, the flight was cancelled. 

UCSB's staff scrambled to make other arrangements and finally settled on a late-afternoon bus trip to Los Angeles International Airport and a 7:30 p.m flight from there to New Orleans, which landed at nearly 1:00 a.m. The team finally arrived at its hotel at 1:30 a.m. and got to bed, in preparation for the two-and-a-half hour drive from New Orleans to Lafayette on Sunday.

The Gauchos led the Ragin' Cajuns (5-8) 32-31 at halftime, but until scoring 40 points in the final 12:44, transforming a 45-45 tie into the 85-77 win, they didn't seem to be hitting on all cylinders. 

UCSB finished with 53 points in the second half, making 17-of-24 (70.8%) field goals overall, 4-of-10 (40.0%) from three-point distance and 15-of-18 (83.3%) from the free throw line. 

"We scored 53 of our 85 points in the second half and we did it in a lot of different ways," said head coach Joe Pasternack. "Playing on the road is always difficult, but you can only control what you do. You can't control the other team, the fans or the officials, so to come on the road and close out a game like that is very good."

Santa Barbara led for most of the game, but Dou Gueye's three-point basket from deep in the right corner tied the score at 45 with 13:09 to play. Devearl Ramsey, who scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half, responded with his second of three three-pointers, putting his team ahead for good.

Ramsey's basked kick-started a 16-5 run that included his third triple. He finished 6-for-10 from the field overall and 3-for-5 from outside the arc. 

"Devearl is  good shooter and he's starting to show that again," Pasternack said. "We need him to make some shots for us to be the best that we can be." 

The 16-5 stretch pushed the Gauchos lead to 61-50 with 8:53 left in the game. Louisiana-Lafayette battled back over the next several minutes and narrowed the lead to 73-70 on a pair of free throws by Trajan Wesley with 1:15 to play. Wesley finished with a team-high 17 points and was a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line. 

McLaughlin made a jumper from just inside the free throw line to make it 75-70 UCSB with 53 seconds on the clock, and after a defensive stop, Matt Freeman was fouled intentionally, making both free throws for a 77-70 lead.

Wesley countered with a driving layup at the 0:34 mark to make it 77-72, but five free throws by Sékou Touré and four more by Freeman were enough to ice the win. 

In addition to Ramsey's 16-point performance, McLaughlin and Freeman each scored a team-high 17 points. Freeman added seven rebounds, while McLaughlin had five rebounds and five assists. Robinson Idehen also tied his season-highs with 10 points and eight rebounds. He had eight of his points and seven of his rebounds in the first half as Amadou Sow dealt with foul trouble. 

"Robinson, in a way, kept us in the game in the first half," Pasternack said. "He's the guy who never complains and never worries about getting his shots. He just works hard every day in practice, honoring the process, and that really paid off today."

UCSB once again won the rebound war by a 36-22 margin. The Gauchos also had a 13-3 edge in offensive rebounds which resulted in a 16-2 advantage in second chance points. 

The Ragin' Cajuns had five players score in double-figures. Joining Wesley were Mylik Wilson and Cedric Russell with 16 apiece, Gueye with 15 and Jalen Johnson with 12.

Santa Barbara will open 2020 with its final non-conference game on Thursday, Jan. 2 against Montecito's Westmont College. The game will tip-off at 7:00 p.m. and will be the final tune-up before the Gauchos open the Big West season on Wednesday, Jan. 8 with a 7:00 p.m. game at Cal Poly.