Courtesy of UCSB Athletics
UC Santa Barbara came out strong against UC Riverside on Feb. 26 at the Thunderdome, taking the Highlanders by storm in the rebounding battle on their way to a crucial 70-59 win with just two more games remaining in the regular season. Timely shot-making from the team’s offensive stars paved the way to an early lead, and they staved off a Highlander comeback attempt to secure the victory.
Sophomore forward Zion Sensley set the tone for the Gauchos with his scoring in the first half. Coming off two low scoring games, the young star seems to have found his form again, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game at 13-13 with 11:31 to go in the first half. Santa Barbara went ahead a couple possessions later and did not look back for the rest of the half, running away to a 39-27 lead at the break, capped off by an 8-point run from senior guard Aidan Mahaney. Mahaney capitalized off of an early shot by Riverside with the shot clock off at the end of the half as his team got the ball back for the final shot of the half; he casually drained a step-back 3 as the buzzer sounded on a strong, balanced first half performance from the Gauchos.
Riverside came out of the break with no plans to back down, however, scoring the first 4 points of the second frame. The Gaucho lead grew back to 45-33 at the 14:17 mark in the half, but the Highlanders went on a 19-5 run over the next seven and a half minutes to make it 52-50 Santa Barbara with 6:57 left to play. The Gauchos never relinquished the lead though, and free throws in the last couple of minutes by Mahaney and Sensley sealed the deal for the home team.
Sensley finished the night with 19 points and 12 rebounds on very efficient 5-9 shooting from the field with three 3s. It was his team-leading sixth double-double, and the second double digit rebound game in his last three outings. Mahaney led the scoring with 21 points after a slow start, finishing with 7 makes on 15 tries from the field. Junior forward Colin Smith added 10 points while graduate big man Hosana Kitenge stuffed the box score with 8 points, 4 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block. The block came on the first defensive possession of the night for the Gauchos as he denied Riverside’s graduate forward BJ Kolly with an emphatic swat to spark his energetic display.
After Santa Barbara’s loss to UC Irvine on Saturday, Feb. 28, the team fell to fifth in the Big West with an 11-8 record. The Gauchos return home on Saturday, March 7, for their senior night matchup against UC San Diego.
San Diego currently owns an 11-7 record, sitting at third in the conference with a game in hand, to be played on Thursday March 5 against Cal State Fullerton (10-8). Prior to the Fullerton game they also had a 5-game winning streak, a polar opposite to the Gauchos one win in their last five games played; fans hope junior guard Miro Little will return to spark some momentum going into the Big West Playoffs that begin March 11.
