SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara Basketball team fell to Cal State Fullerton Saturday afternoon, 78-65. Hot shooting by the Titans was too much for the Gauchos to overcome as Fullerton shot .545 from the floor .500 from deep and .909 from the free throw line.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Titans jumped out to a 10-2 lead early in the first quarter forcing the Gauchos to take a timeout. Unfortunately the Gauchos continued to struggle from the floor coming out of the timeout and could not find a solution for the Titans. After the first UC Santa Barbara trailed 19-6.
In the second quarter the Gauchos started to find their rhythm on offense. Alyssa Marin led the charge in cutting the deficit from 14 to seven after three free throws and a made three pointers. After cutting the lead to seven the teams would trade baskets for a majority of the quarter. Zoe Borter hit a three at the two minute mark to cut the Titan lead to five but a pair of free throws would grow the lead back to seven and the Gauchos went into halftime trailing 35-28.
In the third quarter both teams again traded baskets, but Cal State Fullerton began to pull away half way through the third quarter as they grew their lead to 12. The Titans maintained the 12 point lead until the end of the period.
In the fourth quarter the Gauchos were able to cut the lead to single digits after Jessica Grant hit a three with just under six minutes remaining. Unfortunately that would be as close as they got and the Titans built their lead back to double digits and held that lead for the remainder of the game.Â
LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS
Since returning to action Alyssa Marin is averaging 18.5 points per game. She also is making an average of 9.5 free throws per game.Â
The Gauchos shot 30 total three-pointers, a season-high for the team.
Over the last two games the Gauchos have averaged 20 free throw attempts.
UP NEXT
UC Santa Barbara has two games remaining in the regular season. Their next test will be on March 7 when they host Long Beach State in their final regular season game. The Gauchos and Beach will tip off at 7 p.m. inside the Thunderdome.
