Feb. 18, 2009

Box Score

Santa Barbara, Calif. - The Tiger men's basketball team dropped a 67-57 decision at UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday, Feb. 18. Pacific is now 14-10 overall, 7-6 in Big West Conference play. The Gauchos are 11-13 overall and 5-7 in league play.

The Tigers took an early 13-5 lead, led by three three-pointers from senior Chad Troyer (Seattle, Wash.). The Gauchos countered, using a 15-5 run to take a 20-18 lead with 8:08 remaining in the first half. The teams played even to the 4:24 mark, as UCSB led 26-24, but the Gauchos finished the half on a 10-3 run to stretch the lead to 36-27 at the break.

Pacific scored the first four points of the second half on a free throw by senior Anthony Brown (Sacramento, Calif.) and a three-pointer by senior Michael Kirby (North Highlands, Calif.) as the Tigers cut the lead to five (36-31) with 18:37 to play. The Gauchos again pushed back, outscoring the Tigers 8-2 to take a 44-33 lead with 15:43 to go. After UCSB again pushed the lead out, this time to 15, Pacific outscored the Gauchos 13-5 to cut the lead to 63-56 with 1:47 to go. The Tigers would get no closer as UCSB hit 22-of-24 free throws in the game to get the victory.

Troyer led the Tigers with 11 points, scoring nine points in the opening four minutes. Senior Bryan LeDuc (Corona, Calif.) was the only other Tiger in double figures, scoring 10 points.

After hitting six of their first nine shots, the Tigers were just 9-of-24 (37.5 percent) the rest of the way.

The Tigers are next in action at the University of San Diego on Saturday, Feb. 21 in an ESPNU BracketBuster matchup. Game time is set for 6:05 p.m. at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.