Highlanders Nearly Steal one on the Road in the “Thunderdome”, but Fall Short, 65-63 to UCSB

Saturday, January 25

Santa Barbara, Calif.

7:00 P.M.

University of California, Riverside

13-9,3-3Big West

UC Santa Barbara

13-7,2-3Big West

Team	1	2	F
UC Riverside	33	30	63
UC Santa Barbara	27	38	65

Photo by: Carlos Puma

Highlanders Nearly Steal one on the Road in the “Thunderdome”, but Fall Short, 65-63 to UCSB

1/25/2020 11:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Presented by Altura Credit Union

Santa Barbara, Calif. — UC Riverside (13-9, 3-3) gave it their all and nearly took down UC Santa Barbara (13-7, 2-3) before a raucous crowd on the road in the Gauchos' Thunderdome, falling in the last seconds of the game 65-63, on a Max Heidegger three-pointer with 2.9 seconds left in the game. The Highlanders would have the final shot at the buzzer, but a Khy Kabellis' jump shot from just beyond the arc fell just short.

The Highlanders started right where they left off Thursday night after beating Cal Poly 97-64 at the SRC, dominating the Gauchos in the first half. UC Riverside led by as many as 10 and went into the break leading by a score of 33-27. UCR was led by Senior, Dikymbe Martin and Junior, Arinze Chidom with 9 and 7 points respectively for the Highlanders in the first half. UCSB shot 54% in the first half on 13 of 24 from the field and one of six from the three-point line, behind Amadou Sow who led the Gauchos with 13 first half points. Conversely, UCR shot 50% in the half on 14 of 28 from the floor, but just four of 15 from beyond the arc, which led to concern going into the second half for Head Coach, David Patrick, and his staff with the lead.

"We can talk about shooting, making three's, breaking records, but it just doesn't matter if you don't defend, rebound and take care of the basketball," Coach Patrick said of his team immediately after the tough loss.

The second half began much like the first with the Highlanders maintaining the lead for most of the half. But UCSB chipped away at the Highlander advantage and finally caught up in the last four minutes of the game taking their first lead behind the play of Senior, Max Heidegger, and the offensive rebounding presence of their big men to seal the victory after five lead changes in the last four minutes of the ball game. The Highlanders led for 31 minutes of the game, but it wasn't enough.

Patrick said of the Gauchos, "Sow set the tone in the first half, definitely is the interior. Their veteran guards, Heidegger and McLuaghlin made big plays for them down the stretch. I think at the end of the day, it comes down to what I preach, that is to defend and rebound. We didn't defend them, they shot 53% from the field and 48% from 3. That's not the effort we needed defensively, the last shot was a missed block-out. Yes, we won the rebounding war, but they had zero offensive rebounds at halftime and they come out and get five in the second."

Coach Patrick, although disappointed after the loss, was optimistic when looking ahead to the rest of the season. "I'm proud of our guys, they kept their heads up, the effort they gave was enough to win the game, we just didn't execute in certain parts of the game to beat a good team tonight."

The Highlanders were without the services of George Willborn III for the second straight game due to injury.

UCR plays at home vs Long Beach State on Thursday, January 30 at 7pm on gohighlanders.com and ESPN3.