SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara Men's Basketball team dropped its first game of the season during a thrilling overtime game against LMU on Monday night. Miro Little scored a team high 19 points while Colin Smith added 18.
 
FROM HEAD COACH JOE PASTERNACK
"We got what we deserved," said Pasternack. "We can't live and die by the three, but at the end of the day, we lost the rebounding war and that was the difference in the game."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The start of the game was back and forth, with LMU gaining an early edge. For the Gauchos, Aidan Mahaney got some easy open looks, but LMU was responding on the other end. The Lions and Gauchos continued to battle back and forth, with Santa Barbara narrowly trailing.  
 
Out of the under-12-minute media timeout, the Gauchos found their rhythm on the offensive end. Colin Smith hit a three-pointer out of the media timeout to give the Gauchos an 18-17 lead. Again, the Lions and Gauchos traded baskets and leads. Following the under-eight-minute timeout, UC Santa Barbara forced a turnover, leading to a fastbreak Miro Little layup to tie the game at 25 all. The momentum started to shift to UCSB after Hosana Kitenge then took a charge, leading to a Smith corner three. A couple of other forced turnovers led to transition opportunities, but the Blue and Gold did not capitalize.
 
As the clock dipped under four minutes, the Gauchos built their lead to eight after Aidan Mahaney hit a three. The Gauchos stepped up on defense and got stops, ultimately swelling their lead to 11 after another Colin Smith three to force an LMU timeout. At the end of the half, the Gauchos held a 41-30 lead.
 
In the second half, the Lions started to make a run early, cutting the lead to six. A transition Alley-oop got the Lions all the momentum, but shortly after, Mahaney hit a three to stop the Lions' run. on fire. Through the middle part of the second half, the Gauchos and Lions were a part of a defensive battle. Despite not many points being put up, the Gauchos built their lead to 14 after consecutive baskets by Smith. The Lions responded with a 6-0 run to cut the lead back to single digits.
 
As the game moved to the final 10 minutes, LMU's run continued as they cut the lead to three. During that span, the Gauchos went over five minutes without scoring. The game then went back and forth again for a couple of possessions before the Lions went on an 8-0 run to tie the game and force UC Santa Barbara to call a timeout. Coming down the stretch, the Lions hit back-to-back three pointers to take a 66-60 lead. What hurt the Lions all night came back to bite them with under a minute left. The Lions shot just 51.7 percent from the straight and missed crucial freebies late. Miro Little took over the game, scoring nine points in the final 41 seconds to send the game to overtime for the Gauchos.
 
In overtime, the Gauchos took the initial lead after Colin Smith hit a turnaround jumper. Lions On the ensuing possession, LMU tied the game up and after a stop on the defensive end, hit a three to take the lead. 74-71. Unfortunately, like the Lions, UCSB did not make their free throws late, and the Blue and Gold ultimately fell 78-74.
 
UP NEXT
UC Santa Barbara will head to Reno, Nevada on Saturday, Nov. 22 to face the Wolf Pack. The game will tipoff at 2 p.m. inside Lawlor Events Center. For those unable to make the trip, the game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network with live stats available.