SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - UC Santa Barbara overcame a sluggish start with a 21-2 run to end the first half and start the second in a 70-54 win over visiting Cal Poly in Saturday's regular season finale. 

The Gauchos (19-4 overall, 13-3 Big West) clinched the Big West Conference's regular season championship on Friday night and Saturday's win was their 15th in the last 16 games overall and their school record 17th straight at home.

UCSB struggled with its shooting for much of the first half and when Keith Smith made a lay-up with 6:32 to play, the Mustangs (3-19, 1-15) took a 22-16 lead, but then a momentum changing play turned the game around.

Amadou Sow came up with a steal on the defensive end and went coast-to-coast for a slam dunk at the 4:51 mark. He was fouled by Tuukka Jaakkola on the play and after a review, the officials ruled that it was flagrant. Sow made a pair of free throws to carve the lead to 22-20.

JaQuori McLaughlin came up with steal to ignite another fast break that was capped when he hit Sow with a lob for another slam, tying the game at 22. Following another defensive stop, Brandon Cyrus drained a three from deep in the left corner to make it 25-22 with 3:06 to play.

An offensive foul gave the ball back to the Gauchos and Sow took advantage with a basket on a nice step-through move, making the score 27-22. A jumper by Colby Rogers ended the 11-0 run, but a floater by Ajare Sanni and a steal and lay-up by Devearl Ramsey ended the half to cap a 15-2 run. 

UCSB began the second half with a 6-0 surge, stretching the overall run to 21-2 and the lead to 37-24. A breakaway lay-up by Smith with 16:17 stopped ended the stretch.

Cal Poly rallied back, pulling to within three on three occasions, the last when Dyson Koehler hit a three-pointer with 8:08 to play, making it a 46-43 game.

The Gauchos responded again. A three by Devearl Ramsey, a steal and breakaway dunk by Sow made it 51-43. Following a turnaround from the baseline by Rogers, Sow made another short jumper in the paint and Sanni drained a long three to make the score 56-45 at the 5:34 mark.

UCSB had its biggest lead of the game, 64-50, when Sanni made his fourth three-pointer of the game with 2:24 remaining. The Mustangs would scratch back to pull within 64-54, but got no closer.

Sow finished with his fourth double-double of the season, scoring 22 points and collecting 12 rebounds. Sanni was the only other player in double-figures with 18. McLaughlin added nine points, four rebounds and a pair of steals. Ramsey had five assists and two steals and Josh Pierre-Louis added a game-high four steals.

In all, the Gauchos had 10 steals and had an 18-4 advantage in points off of turnovers. They also had a 38-27 rebounding edge.

After opening the game ice cold, Santa Barbara made 48.3% of its shots in the second half to finish at 42.6%. 

The Mustangs were led by Jaakkola with 12 points. 

The No. 1 seeded Gauchos will next play on Thursday, Mar. 11 in the first round of the Big West Tournament. They will play the winner of Tuesday's play-in game between Long Beach State and CSUN at 11:00 a.m.