SANTA BARBARA, Calif.– The UC Santa Barbara Men's Basketball team (7-5) dropped its Big West opener at UC San Diego (7-5) in overtime 85-83 despite a career performance from Ajare Sanni who scored 29 and 20-point effort from Miles Norris.

ON THE STAT SHEET

• Sanni went 11-fork 21 on the night knocking down four of his eight three-point attempts to go with seven boards and five assists
• Norris finished the night going 6-for-9 with five boards and four assists, while going 6-for-7 from the free-throw line
• Amadou Sow joined them in double-figures going 8-for-17 to notch 18 points and nine rebounds narrowly missing the double-double adding four blocks and pair of assists and steals
• For the first time this season the Gauchos took a loss despite outrebounding the Tritons 38-28

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Half (28-27 UC San Diego)

• The Gauchos led by as many as eight in the first half but defense shined through for both programs as the Gauchos and Tritons both shot a nearly identical 42% from the field
• UCSB held the lead for most of the half collecting an impressive 19 rebounds to UCSD's 15 but the Tritons were determined erasing that deficit in less than five minutes and taking a lead at 17-16
• Tied at 26 apiece with less than three minutes to go UCSD found a pair of late free throws as did the Gauchos who made just one to go in the locker room down 28-27

Second Half (44-43 UCSB­)

• The second half felt much tighter with neither team taking more than a seven-point lead
• Again both teams shot an identical 55% from the field and again the Gauchos won the rebound battle 15 to 10
• With just over four minutes to go the Gauchos led by seven but UCSD quickly began to whittle away coming to within one point at 69-68
• A pair of Sanni free-throws put UCSB up by three with just six seconds to go but the host Tritons found their opportunity picking off a Gaucho pass and coming down to hit a Fastbreak three-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime 

Overtime (14-12 UC San Diego)

• UCSD led for most of the overtime period going up 78-72 with just two and a half minutes to go but the Gauchos refused to quit as Calvin Wishart sank a jumper and Norris added a put-back dunk to make it a four-point game
• A missed Triton jumper saw the Gauchos sprint and take advantage of the fast break giving it to the hot-hand of Sanni who nailed a three-pointer to put UCSB within one and a fastbreak layup from Sow gave the team a late 81-80 lead with just a minute to go
• UCSB tried a pair of threes to put the game to bed but could not convert as UCSD came down the other end to notch a pair of free-throws to take a two-point lead with 22 seconds left
• Calvin Wishart made a pair of his own to ice the game once again at 83-83 with just seven seconds to go but unfortunately could not hang on as the Gauchos fouled UCSD's Bryce Pope who knocked down 2-of-3 free-throws to send UCSB home

UP NEXT
With UCSB's weekend matchup at UC Irvine being canceled, the Gauchos will now have a week to prepare for their home conference-opener vs rival Cal Poly Thursday, January 6^th. Spectators are not permitted.