SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara Men's Basketball team (8-5, 0-2 Big West) outmatched Westcliff (3-4) on Saturday evening, beating the visitors 89-72. The final non-conference tune-up allowed the opportunity to give a lot of players considerable playing time—10 Gauchos played at least 10 minutes. Deuce Turner and Kenny Pohto stood out, though, with Pohto tallying 19 points and 11 rebounds, his third double-double in the last four games.
FROM HEAD COACH JOE PASTERNACK
"In the past, we've played much easier games where you win by 50, where you get nothing out of it," Pasternack said. "[Westcliff is] very well-coached, played really hard—they have Division I transfers. I'm really glad we scheduled this game, to have this type of challenge for our guys."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Just three minutes into the contest, it looked like a mismatch. UC Santa Barbara started out hot to a score of 15-2, with eight of those points coming from Deuce Turner. Westcliff fought back with an 8-2 run, but that ended with an acrobatic and-one from Ben Shtolzberg. Still with six minutes remaining in the first half, Kenny Pohto scored his 10th and 11th points of the night on an overpowering and-one layup. Talented freshmen Zachiah Clark and Zion Sensley then got in on the action, scoring on back-to-back possessions. By halftime, the Gauchos had eclipsed the half-century mark, comfortably up 50-32. The clear size advantage allowed UC Santa Barbara to shoot 77.8% (14-for-18) on two-point attempts and 60% (18-for-30) overall in the first half.
Immediately out of break, back-to-back threes from the Warriors' Eric Clark shrunk the lead to 12. Five minutes in, the Gauchos caught a break as a Westcliff corner three would have resulted in just a 10-point game, but the shooter's heel was out-of-bounds prior to the shot. After that, momentum flipped back to Santa Barbara, and a 10-3 run culminated in a 65-46 lead—a considerable buffer, once again. Kenny Pohto grabbed his 10th rebound during that span, earning a double-double despite only being on the floor for 17 minutes to that point. Back-to-back finishes at the rim by Ariel Bland ballooned the Gaucho lead to 17 with eight minutes remaining, but Westcliff stayed competitive. With three minutes left, a Westcliff three-pointer made it just an eight-point game. However, Pohto helped ice the game with four points, a rebound, and an assist in the final minutes to see out the 89-72 victory.
LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS
- Kenny Pohto continues to be a double-double machine. With his fifth of the season so far, the senior is now averaging 12.9 points and 7.8 rebounds for the season.
- Deuce Turner had his third 20-point game of the year, scoring 21 with four assists and three rebounds.
- Ariel Bland and Zion Sensley each contributed phenomenally off the bench, with 10 and 13 points, respectively.
- The Gauchos outrebounded Westcliff 36-27. Points in the paint were even more significant, if not the difference in the game, with a 48-26 Gaucho advantage.
UP NEXT
The Gauchos take off to Hawai'i shortly after New Year's aiming to get in the Big West win column against the Rainbow Warriors. On Thursday, Jan. 2 at 9 p.m. Pacific Time, fans can stay up late to watch live on ESPN+ or follow along via live stats on ucsbgauchos.com.
