Jan. 28, 2006

Box Score

Santa Barbara, Calif. - The Pacific Tigers men's basketball team gave head coach Bob Thomason career win No. 300 on the first try as the Tigers defeated UC Santa Barbara, 65-53, on Saturday, Jan. 28.

With the win, Pacific moved to 14-6 on the season and 4-2 in the Big West Conference, while UC Santa Barbara fell to 7-11 overall and 1-6 in conference play.

Pacific jumped out to an early 11-2 lead as seniors Johnny Gray (Agoura Hills, Calif.) and Christian Maraker (Varberg, Sweden) combined for eight points in the opening four minutes. Pacific stretched its lead to as much as 14 points at 35-21 and held a 38-29 lead at the half.

UC Santa Barbara came out quickly in the second half, scoring the first 10 points of the half to take a 39-38 lead with 15:38 remaining in the game.

The Gauchos continued to ride the momentum of their run as UC Santa Barbara took their largest lead of the game at 47-42 with 9:59 left.

Pacific responded with an 11-0 run, led by Seven points from freshman Steffan Johnson (Kent, Wash.) as the Tigers regained control of the game at 53-47.

UC Santa Barbara got no closer than four points the rest of the way as the Tigers defeated the Gauchos, 65-53.

Maraker led all scorers with 20 points, while Cecil Brown had 17 points to lead UC Santa Barbara.

The Tigers will be back in action on Thursday, Feb. 2 as Pacific hosts UC Irvine at 7:30 p.m.