UC Santa Barbara holds off Long Beach State to win Big West title

Nothing could topple the UC Santa Barbara men’s basketball team in their run for the Big West Conference title, not even Long Beach State’s “spurtability.”

The top-seeded Gauchos won their second tournament title since joining the Big West in 1985, holding off an incessant second-half comeback by third-seeded Long Beach and prevailing, 69-64, at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Santa Barbara earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament by making free throws down the stretch, playing physical defense and surviving the 49ers’ only offensive surge of the game.

Earlier in the tournament, Cal Poly Coach Joe Calero made reference to Long Beach’s ability to switch gears as “spurtability,” a term coined by college basketball analyst Clark Kellogg.

That stretch began with just under 12 minutes remaining and Santa Barbara leading by 10 points. Larry Anderson converted a three-point play to start the run and Long Beach point guard Casper Ware followed with three consecutive steals that led to three layups, including a three-point play, to tie the score, 47-47, with 9:29 left.

Ware finished with 19 points to lead the 49ers, and T.J. Robinson had 15.

“He has done that to us before,” Santa Barbara Coach Bob Williams said of Ware. “I think he’s the most disruptive player in the league.”

The Gauchos (20-9) did not convert a field-goal for just over seven minutes of the second half and were held to three over the final 12½ minutes, but they made up for it at the free-throw line, converting 15 of 16 during that span.

A key point came with 28.8 seconds left and the 49ers trailing by two. Robinson, a 56.9% free-throw shooter during the regular season, went to the line but left the first attempt short before making the second.

“Free-throw shooting has been tough for us,” Long Beach Coach Dan Monson said. “The couple misses were untimely for us.”

That wasn’t the case for Santa Barbara, especially with James Powell on the floor. Powell, a 91.2% shooter at the line during the regular season, sank four straight attempts sandwiched around a charging call on Stephan Gilling.

“We weathered the storm and toughened up,” Williams said. “The toughness was our ability to handle pressure.”

Monson said the difference between the teams became evident two months ago.

“It was in January, when we didn’t get better and Santa Barbara did,” he said.

The first half for Long Beach was a mix of unforced turnovers, missed shots from arm’s distance of the rim, foul trouble for key players and a lack of free throws. The 49ers were fortunate to come out of the first half trailing only 35-30.

“We started the game and wanted it too bad,” Monson said. “It took us way too long to settle down in that game because we got the ball wherever we wanted. As a coach, if you lose because you wanted it too bad, you can live with that.”

Long Beach committed 10 turnovers in the first half. Some of the miscues included an outlet pass out of bounds under the Santa Barbara basket after a defensive rebound and an inbound pass off a Long Beach player’s shoe under the 49ers’ basket.

The turnovers that hurt the most, however, were charging calls on Anderson and Ware, which represented the second personal fouls for each and sent them to the bench.

Orlando Johnson, voted the tournament’s most valuable player, scored seven of his team-high 20 points in the opening eight minutes to help the Gauchos to a 19-11 lead. James Nunnally had 19 points for the Gauchos, who on Sunday will learn who they will play in the NCAA tournament’s first round.

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