SANTA BARBARA — For nearly 34 minutes Saturday night, the UC Irvine men’s basketball team was positioned to do something no visiting team had done all season at UC Santa Barbara – win.
The three minutes that followed put an end to that opportunity, as UCSB used a dominant run down the stretch to break open a close game and wrap up a 70-58 victory.
Gabe Vincent had a season-high 21 points and Jalen Canty added 20 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Gauchos (14-5 overall, 3-2 Big West). Max Heidigger had 14 points, five rebounds and five assists and Leland King II added six points and 14 rebounds.
UCI’s Tommy Rutherford scored eight points during a 12-4 run that tied the score at 47-47 when he made back-to-back baskets with 6:48 to play. King answered with a 10-foot jumper with 6:07 left, then Rutherford missed a three-point attempt and UCSB rebounded. On the other end, Canty was fouled by Rutherford while making a jump-hook from the side of the key. He made the free throw, pushing the advantage to 52-47.
Evan Leonard missed a well-guarded jumper for the Anteaters and Vincent made them pay, hitting a step-back jumper on the other end to make the score 54-47 with 5:03 remaining. After a steal by Vincent, Heidegger took a pass in the key from King and was fouled while making a nifty, double-pump jumper. He made the free throw to give the Gauchos their first double-digit lead of the game, 57-47 with 4:27 on the clock.
On the Anteaters’ next possession, Elston Jones missed a jump-hook and Vincent came down with the rebound. Vincent was fouled while attempting a dunk and hit the free throws, making it 59-47 with 3:50 left.
Canty capped what was a 15-2 run with another 3-point play to make it 62-49 with three minutes left. The Anteaters (8-14, 3-3) trailed by double figures the rest of the way.
“Obviously that was big,” said UCSB coach Joe Pasternack, whose team improve to 9-0 at the Thunderdome, their home start since 1989-90. “To put them away late says a lot about our team. I thought we played well defensively all night, and we’ve been getting better and better on that end, but during that stretch, we did it offensively and defensively.”
Rutherford was 7 for 10 from the field and scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds before fouling out with 3:22 to play. Eyassu Worku added 10 points for UCI, which led by one at halftime.
UCI entered the game leading all of NCAA Division I in rebounds, but the Gauchos easily won the rebounding battle 42-30.
“They are one of the best rebounding teams in the country,” Pasternack said. “Our effort tonight, up and down the lineup. Leland, Jalen, Max, Gabe, everyone went hard to the boards.”
Vincent, who made had four assists, four rebounds and three steals to go with his season-high 21 points, had reconstructive knee surgery just over 11 months ago. He was playing with a brace on his surgically repaired left knee until a week ago.
“I am starting to feel better and better,” said Vincent, who scored 15 of his points in the second half. “My knee feels good and tonight I really started to feel like myself. It was a lot of fun. The brace just snapped in two in the game at Hawaii and I tossed it. I’ve played without it since and it feels good.”
Neither team shot well in the first half, but after shooting just 33.3 percent before the break, the Gauchos went 15 for 28 in the second half (53.6 percent). UCI was held to 39 percent for the game (23 for 59).
UCI has just one game next week – home on Wednesday against UC Riverside (5-14, 0-5), while UCSB plays at Cal State Fullerton (11-7, 4-2) on Thursday night then at UCR on Saturday.