SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Lamine Diane scored 19 of his game-high 27 points in a red-hot second half that saw visiting Cal State Northridge score 50 points and make 7-of-9 three-point attempts en route to an 83-75 win over UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday night. 

The loss was the third in a row for the Gauchos (12-7 overall, 1-3 Big West), who were playing without leading scorer JaQuori McLaughlin after the junior suffered a groin injury in practice on Tuesday, and it was their first to the Matadors (8-13, 3-2) in the last six games between the teams. 

The Matadors opened up an 18-10 lead when Terrell Gomez made a three-pointer with 12:41 left in the first half, but a 12-0 UCSB run, capped by a Max Heidegger three-point basket and a pair of free throws by Devearl Ramsey, propelling the home team into a 22-18 advantage. The Gauchos went to halftime that same two-point lead, 35-33. 

As was the case in their previous two games, the Gauchos couldn't hold on in the second half as they expanded their lead to 37-33 early but couldn't expand it any more. 

Trailing 51-48 when Gomez made a three-point basket at the 14:31 mark, UCSB got a lay-up from Amadou Sow and a pair of free throws from Heidegger to take its final lead of the game, 52-51 with 13:23 to play. Back-to-back baskets by Gomez, the first a mid-range jumper and then another three-pointer, gave CSUN a 56-52 advantage. 

A triple by Heidegger carved the gap to 56-55 with 12:11 remaining, but a free throw and then high arcing jumper by Diane and then a long three-pointer by Darius Brown II, extended the Matador edge to 62-55. Following a nifty layup through traffic by Heidegger, Brown responded with another three to make it 65-57 with 8:47 left on the clock. 

The visitors still led by eight when Heidegger made another layup and Sow hit his second three-point basket of the game with 5:10 to play, cutting the lead to 69-66. However, CSUN responded with a decisive 8-0 run which included a layup by Diane and threes by Brendan Harrick and Brown to make it a 77-66 game with just over three minutes to play. 

UCSB got the deficit back to six on a layup by Sow with 11 seconds on the clock, but that was as close as it got. 

In outscoring the Gauchos 50-40 in the second half, the Matadors made 18-of-28 field goals overall, 64.3%, and 7-of-9 three-pointers, 77.8%. They finished the game at 52.5% overall and hit 9-of-16 three-point tries, 56.3%. They were also stellar from the free throw line at 85.7%. In addition to Diane's 17 points, Brown finished with 21 and Gomez had 15. 

Santa Barbara, which shot a respectable 46.2% overall, made 9-of-27 three-point attempts, 33.3%, and 18-of-21 free throws, 85.7%. Heidegger led the way, tying his season-high with 21 points for the second straight games. He also paced the team with five assists. Sow added 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists, while Ramsey had 13 points. Robinson Idehen, who started alongside Sow for the first time, had five points and six boards. 

Overall, the Gauchos outrebounded CSUN 36-24, but they forced only four turnovers and were outscored on points off of turnovers by a 23-8 margin. 

The Gauchos complete their brief two-game homestand on Saturday, Jan. 25 when they host UC Riverside in a 7:00 p.m. game at the Thunderdome.