UCSB advances to Big West championship game

Posted: Mar 12, 2010 10:38 PM by Andrew Masuda
Updated: Mar 12, 2010 10:38 PM

The UC Santa Barbara men's basketball team is the only one of four Central Coast teams to remain in the title hunt at the Big West Conference Tournament in Anaheim.

The Gauchos surged to a big lead in the first half, but almost squandered it in the second half. UC Davis trimmed a 21 point deficit to 5 points. But UCSB held on to beat the Aggies 76-62 in the semifinals.

James Powell scored a team best 22 points in the win. Big
West Player of the Year Orlando Johnson poured in 13 points for the Gauchos. James Powell also set a new program record with his 218th career three-pointer. He finished with 17 points.

The Gauchos advanced to their first conference tournament final since 2002.

"We're excited to be back in the finals. It's been a long time. We've come in three times as a number one seed and not made it to the finals. So it's good to get the monkey off our back," said UCSB head coach Bob Williams. "We were worried about rust rather than rest after nine days off and we feel like we have a good opportunity to win this thing."

UCSB is looking for its first tournament championship since beating former Big West member Utah State 60-56 in 2002, earning an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

The Gauchos will face the winner of the other semifinal between second-seeded Pacific and third-seeded Long Beach State on Saturday at 5 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2 with the winner earning the league's automatic spot in the NCAA Tournament.