UC Riverside
UC Santa Barbara
Highlanders Erase Double-Digit Halftime Deficit To Upend UCSB, 71-69
1/4/2009 3:41:59 PM | Men's Basketball
For the first 20 minutes of play, however, it looked like the Highlanders might have to wait a few days to record their ninth win. The Gauchos, who were picked to finish second in the league this season by Big West Coaches and Media, outplayed UCR in nearly every facet of the game in the first half in building their 12-point lead. They shot 53.3 percent from the field to the Highlanders' 37.0 percent, outrebounded UCR 18-15 and committed just four turnovers in the period.
The Highlander stumbled out of the gates in the second half turning the ball over on their first possession. Two minutes later they trailed by 13, 48-35, but managed to right the ship by going on a 14-0 run to take a one-point lead, 49-48. Five different Highlanders scored during the run and UCR forced the Gauchos into eight turnovers in the first eight minutes of the second stanza. The lid that was on the Highlanders offensive goal disappeared as UCR shot 61.9 percent after the break.
The Highlanders pushed their lead to six with 7:49 remaining in the conest, but a Gauchos run tied the game at 60 with 5:55 to go. From that point on, UCR's lead fluctuated between one and five points.
UCSB cut the Highlanders lead to one for the final time with nine seconds to go fouling Kyle Austin on the subsequent posession with just over six seconds remaining. Austin nailed the first free throw, but missed the second and the ball bounced out of bounds off UCR. The Gauchos has just 3.2 seconds in which to shoot a game-tying to or a game-winning three, but James Powell's three-pointer was launched after the final buzzer giving the Highlanders the two-point win.
Austin led the Highlanders with 13 points while Javon Borum added 12 and Sean Cunningham added 11. Chris Devine led the Gauchos with 24 points becoming the first opposing player to score 20 or more points against UCR this season.
NOTES
Prior to Sunday's win, the Highlanders had never started a Big West season 2-0.
The Highlanders nine wins this season have already matched the squads 2007-08 total, and they need jut three wins to set the school's Division I era record for wins in a season.
The win runs the Highlanders consecutive home winning streak to eight games. To find a UCR home streak longer than that, one must go back to the mid 1990s when UCR won 30 straight at home over the span of four seasons from 1993-1995.
Kyle Austin led the Highlanders in scoring for the sixth consecutive game and also recorded his sixth straight game of scoring 10 or more points.
