UC Santa Barbara Holds On to Beat UC Irvine, 83-81

GOLETA —  UC Santa Barbara led UC Irvine by 20 points in the first 10 minutes Saturday, and Irvine came back and tied the score at halftime.

But the 12-point lead the Gauchos took in the second half was enough--barely--in Santa Barbara’s 83-81 Big West Conference victory before 5,378 in the Events Center.

Irvine’s Cornelius Banks hit a three-point basket with five seconds left that cut Santa Barbara’s lead to two points, but the Anteaters had no timeouts left, and Santa Barbara (8-6, 3-3) let time expire without inbounding the ball.

The Anteaters (7-12, 2-5) trailed by three points with 16 seconds left when Paul Johnson missed the second of two free throws. Irvine’s Jeff Herdman fouled out when he grabbed Santa Barbara’s Gary Gray on the rebound. Gray’s free throws gave Santa Barbara a five-point lead, and Irvine had lost its best three-point shooter.

Herdman finished with 22 points.

Santa Barbara’s Lucius Davis led all scorers with 30 points. Davis made 10 of 14 shots and 10 of 12 free throws.

UC Santa Barbara used a 20-2 run that included 13 consecutive points to take a 26-6 lead after Irvine’s Ricky Butler hit a shot a little more than a minute into the game, tying the score, 2-2. It was the Anteaters’ only field goal of the first 8 1/2 minutes.

Irvine came back when Santa Barbara was whistled for 13 fouls in the first half, and the Anteaters made 17 of 21 free throws.

Irvine fell behind by seven early in the second half, but once again came back. Dylan Rigdon’s layup gave the Anteaters their first lead, 52-51, with 12 minutes left, but it didn’t last long.

Irvine kept the game close by shooting a season-high 88% from the line, including all 13 free throws in the second half.

“UCI kept coming back, coming back,” said Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan, whose team has lost three in a row. “But we couldn’t get over the hump. We were impatient on offense. We needed this win.”