SANTA BARBARA, Calif. --- Missed opportunities down the stretch helped lead to defeat for UC Irvine Saturday night as the Anteaters fell to UC Santa Barbara, 54-51, in a Big West Conference game at Santa Barbara.
UCI made some key stops but could not capitalize in falling to 17-11 overall and 10-4 in the Big West. The 'Eaters are two games behind league-leading UC Davis with two games to play.
Senior forward Will Davis II once again led UCI with 16 points and seven rebounds.
Travis Souza added seven points, Mamadou Ndiaye had six points and four boards, and Ioannis Dimakopoulos also grabbed four rebounds while scoring five points.
Luke Nelson had six rebounds, six assists and four points while Dominique Dunning was the third Anteater player with four boards as UCI outrebounded UCSB, 37-33.
Alan Williams led the Gauchos (16-12, 9-5) with 15 points and 15 rebounds, John Green scored 14 points and Michael Bryson 11.
Davis scored 11 of his points in the first half, but UCSB led 27-26 at the break.
The Anteaters took the lead three times early in the second half, the last at 32-31 on a layup by Mike Best off a Nelson feed at the 16:16 mark.
The Gauchos took a 46-41 lead on a basket by Williams with 6:22 remaining, but a dunk by Ndiaye and layup from Davis pulled UCI within one with 3:17 left.
Coming out of a timeout, Zalmico Harmon hit a tough three from the left side with 1:25 remaining for a 49-45 UCSB lead.
Souza answered with a floating three from beyond the top of the key with 37 seconds left to draw UCI within 49-48.
Williams hit one of two free throws with 31 seconds remaining and DaJuan Smith hit a pair with 15 seconds left to put the Gauchos up 52-48.
Davis converted a traditional three-point play with 5.8 seconds left to close the gap to 52-51, but UCI was forced to foul on the inbounds pass and Harmon converted both foul shots with 4.5 ticks remaining for the final margin.
The Anteaters hit just 5 of 15 free throws (4 of 10 in the second half) and were 2 of 10 from three-point range. UCI shot 43 percent from the field in the game while UCSB shot 40 percent, but hit 9 of 13 foul shots and 5 of 15 threes. UCI had 11 turnovers to UCSB's eight.
Saturday night marked the first time in 47 games that UCI lost when holding the opposition to 60 points or less.
"It's tough to win when there are turnovers and missed free throws at critical times," UCI head coach Russell Turner said. "Hopefully, a game like this will help sharpen our focus for the next two games and the conference tournament."
The Anteaters host Cal State Fullerton Thursday night at 7:00 in the regular-season home finale and Senior Night, as Davis, Souza and John Ryan will be recognized prior to the game.
UCI travels to UC Davis next Saturday evening at 7:00 with the Big West Tournament at the Honda Center Mar. 12-14.
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