Box Score SANTA BARBARA, Calif.– The UC Santa Barbara Men's Basketball team (7-4) closed out its non-conference schedule with a defensive gem Wednesday afternoon defeating visiting Idaho State (2-9) 56-43. The Gauchos forced 16 turnovers and held the Bengals to 32.6% from the field in the game while allowing just 17 points in the entire second half.
ON THE STAT SHEET
- Senior center Amadou Sow led the way with 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting and added three rebounds
- Freshman guard Ajay Mitchell joined him in double-figures shooting 50.0% from the field and notching 14 points to go with three rebounds and two assists
- UCSB dominated the paint outscoring ISU 38-20 in that category and capitalized on the Bengal miscues scoring 18 points off turnovers
- The Gauchos led for just over 36 minutes of the contest holding the lead from the final two minutes of the first half until the final buzzer
- 43 points is the least amount of points allowed by the Gauchos this year
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half (27-26 UCSB)
- The Gauchos offense looked strong early jumping out to a 10-point lead at 18-8 just 10 minutes into the contest fueled by Sow who knocked down his first five shots and would finish the half with 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting
- The final 10 minutes of the period saw the Bengals mount their run with a barrage of three-pointers that brought them all the way back to even hold a one-point lead at 24-22
- A pair of Ajare Sanni free throws and the sole triple of the afternoon for the Gauchos knocked down by Miles Norris with a minute to go sent UCSB into the locker room up one
Second Half (29-17 UCSB)
- The Gauchos allowed Idaho State just 17 points in the second period and in fact held them under 10 points through the first 15 minutes of the half
- The Bengals cut the lead to a four-point game with eight minutes to go but UCSB continued to get good looks inside and keep the visiting team at bay
- Mitchell had a strong second half getting his team much-needed buckets and going 4-for-6 in the half with 10 points
- UCSB held ISU to a 8-of-25 mark from the field and 1-for-9 from three for a second half percentage of 32.0%
UP NEXT
UCSB is now set for Big West Conference play, although its first contest at UC San Diego will be scored as a non-conference event due to the fact that the Tritons are still in their Division I transition. The Gauchos visit UCSD on Thursday, December 30 before facing UC Irvine on New Year's Day.
