Jason R. Aula
(Photo credit: UC Santa Barbara Athletics)
LOS ANGELES, California -- Ajay Mitchell led all scorers with 28 points as UC Santa Barbara upset Long Beach State 78-73 on Thursday night. The Gauchos needed help from the referees with questionable foul calls to make up for all the three-point misses and to slow down LBSU’s Showtime Era style offense. Long Beach State (15-14, 9-8) played tough defense but only got seven shots from the charity strike and UC Santa Barbara (21-7, 12-5) shot 14 of 21.
The first half yielded a 10-0 run for Long Beach State as well as an 8-0 run with many lead changes throughout out the game. LBSU held the lead at the half, but only shot 4 for 11 from behind the arc whereas UC Santa Barbara shot 10 for 25, which was the reason for the Big West Conference loss. LBSU outrebounded the Guachos and had a high field goal shooting percentage overall as well as considerable bench play.
Both Traores had double-doubles for LBSU and four players scoring in double figures. Lassina Traore put 17 points with 11 boards and Aboubacar Traore scored 12 points with 10 rebounds.
Despite Tim Donaghy style officiating at UC Riverside earlier this month and UC Santa Barbara Thursday night, Long Beach State appears ready to win the Big West Conference tourney for the NCAA tournament berth.
UP NEXT: Long Beach State (15-14, 9-8) faces CSUN (7-22, 4-14) on Saturday February 25 at 4 p.m. at the Gold Mine, Long Beach, California. Live coverage on ESPN +.
The first half yielded a 10-0 run for Long Beach State as well as an 8-0 run with many lead changes throughout out the game. LBSU held the lead at the half, but only shot 4 for 11 from behind the arc whereas UC Santa Barbara shot 10 for 25, which was the reason for the Big West Conference loss. LBSU outrebounded the Guachos and had a high field goal shooting percentage overall as well as considerable bench play.
Both Traores had double-doubles for LBSU and four players scoring in double figures. Lassina Traore put 17 points with 11 boards and Aboubacar Traore scored 12 points with 10 rebounds.
Despite Tim Donaghy style officiating at UC Riverside earlier this month and UC Santa Barbara Thursday night, Long Beach State appears ready to win the Big West Conference tourney for the NCAA tournament berth.
UP NEXT: Long Beach State (15-14, 9-8) faces CSUN (7-22, 4-14) on Saturday February 25 at 4 p.m. at the Gold Mine, Long Beach, California. Live coverage on ESPN +.
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