Courtesy of UCSB athletics.

The UC Santa Barbara men’s basketball team faced off against UC Irvine on Feb. 13, resulting in a 62-60 loss for the Gauchos.

This was a tough matchup for the UCSB Gauchos as the UCI Anteaters has spent a majority of the season at the top of the Big West Conference, and they are currently battling UC San Diego for the No. 1 seed. Though this game seemed daunting for UCSB, they demonstrated throughout the game that they were up for the challenge. The Gauchos stayed level with the Anteaters until the very last second of the second half, when the Anteaters sealed the win with a buzzer beater two-point shot for the win. 

“Our players competed hard tonight … They left it all out on the court,” Head Coach Joe Pasternack said.

To start the first half, UCSB and UCI traded blows in the paint until UCSB pulled ahead with two three-pointers from sophomore forward Koat Keat Tong and a layup from graduate guard Stephan Swenson. The Gauchos led the Anteaters 16-10 with 12:43 remaining in the first half. While both offenses continued to play at a high level, the Anteaters ended the half with the edge over the Gauchos leading 32-30 largely with the help of senior forward Devin Tillis, who went into the break with 14 points for UCI.

In the second half both teams fought back and forth as the lead changed a total of 12 times throughout the game. Senior forward Kenny Pohto was a key player keeping the Gauchos within reach, scoring a total of 15 points with a strong performance in the paint. Pohto shifted the momentum with a layup at 12:29 left in the second half, putting a halt to 9 unanswered points from UCI, reminding his team to keep their heads in the game as it was still within reach at 40-47. This message was received by Gaucho graduate forward Max Murrell, who scored two back-to-back three-pointers, narrowing the gap with the score 46-51.

On the other side of the ball, the Gauchos struggled to stay ahead on defense, as they allowed 40 points in the paint to UCI. With 2:26 left on the clock, Swenson knew the offense had to make up some ground as he hit a crucial three-pointer to give the Gauchos the lead at 58-56 and then a possible game saving layup to make the game 60-60 with 30 seconds to spare.

Neither offense was backing down as both teams were even and 30 seconds remained. UCI had possession of the ball with the intention of not giving it back. The Anteaters drove down the court and drained the clock. Refusing to give up a score, UCSB played well on defense as the ball was forced out of bounds. With only 0.6 seconds left, the Anteaters inbounded the ball with a well placed lob that Tillis shot and scored quickly to narrowly beat the buzzer and down the Gauchos in a heartbreaking loss.

The UC Santa Barbara men’s basketball team (16-10, 8-7 Big West) will look to bounce back against California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in the Thunderdome on Feb. 27 at 7 p.m.

A version of this article was printed in the Feb 20th edition of the Daily Nexus.