Box Score LONG BEACH, Calif. – Matt Freeman had career-highs of 24 points and six three-point baskets, Amadou Sow had 15 points and 14 rebounds, and Max Heidegger missed a triple-double by one rebound as visiting UC Santa Barbara avenged an earlier loss with a resounding 87-62 win at Long Beach State on Saturday afternoon.
The Gauchos (14-8 overall, 3-4 Big West) led 32-27 at half but outscored LBSU (7-16, 2-5) 55-35 in the second half to run away with their second win in the last three games. The road team has now won six-straight games in the series.
"This was a great way to bounce back from Thursday," said head coach Joe Pasternack referencing UCSB's 12-point loss at CSUN two nights earlier. "We (the coaching staff) really challenged our guys and they responded."
Nobody responded more adamantly than Freeman. After logging 21 minutes and going scoreless and without a rebound in the loss to CSUN, he bounced back with a career-best game on Saturday.
"Kudos to my staff, they talked me into starting him tonight," Pasternack said. "And man, what an unbelievable performance he had in 19 minutes."
A graduate transfer from Oklahoma, Freeman scored 11 points in the first half, making 3-of-4 shots from three-point range. In the second half, he caught fire before getting into foul trouble, making 3-for-3 from three-point range and a two-pointer, all in the first 3:21 of the half. His final three-point basket came with 16:39 left in the game and pushed the Gauchos' lead to 45-34. Freeman committed his fourth personal foul with 15:28 on the clock and had to leave the with his team leading 47-36.
"I just did what I do in practice and hit open shots," Freeman said. ""It's about sticking to it, not losing belief in each other, trusting each other. Like coach says, we have such a talented team, 'Don't lose it just because we lost a couple of games'. We've got it all there.'"
UCSB didn't miss a beat as Brandon Cyrus hit a perfectly timed tear-drop and was fouled. He made the free throw to extend the lead to a 50-36 with 15:01 to play.
Long Beach carved the advantage to 53-45 on a slam dunk by Joshua Morgan with 11:30 left, but the Gauchos responded with a 7-2 run to take a 60-47 lead on a Heidegger three-pointer with 8:18 on the clock.
The lead never fell below 10 the rest of the way and Santa Barbara ended the game on a 25-10 stretch to give itself a season-high point total and margin of victory at 87-62.
In the end, the Gauchos had advantages in rebounds (41-32), assists (22-9), turnovers (8-12), field goal percentage (45.2% to 36.2%), three-point percentage (45.5% to 26.7%) and free throw percentage (87.5% to 72.7%).
Heidegger, who passed Richard Anderson and moved into 15th on UCSB's all-time scoring list with 1,250 points, came within a rebound of the first triple-double by a Gaucho player in nearly 30 years.
"Max is a special player," Pasternack said. "He's great to watch."
UCSB limited Long Beach to 36.2% shooting from the field, the second-lowest mark by an opponent this season. The Beach, which is the term they are using as they bypass a nickname, was led by Chance Hunter with 19 points. Jordan Roberts added.
Freeman and Sow paced the Gauchos, but Heidegger added 14 while JaQouri McLaughlin, Devearl Ramsey and Robinson Idehen each contributed nine points.
The Gauchos will play a pair of home games next week. On Thursday, Feb. 6 they will play Hawai'i in a 7:00 p.m. game and then on Saturday, Feb. 8 in a game that will be broadcast on ESPNU, they will host UC Irvine, also at 7:00 p.m.
