UCSB men’s basketball drops home game to Anteaters

By KRISTEN KELLER UCSB SPORTS

The UCSB men’s basketball team (20-4, 11-2 Big West) were back in The Thunderdome to kick off this week’s games as they hosted the UC Irvine Anteaters in a battle for the top spot in The Big West. Despite the two-point lead at halftime, the Gauchos were not able to come out with a win, dropping this contest 70-59.

“I thought our guys played really well, especially Jakov (Kukic), in the first half,” UCSB Coach JoePasternack said. “We ran out of steam in the second half. The difference in this game was rebounding just in the second half. It really hurt us.”

How It Happened

The last time these two teams faced each other was a fight until the end, and that was no different in tonight’s game. The lead changed five times in the first half alone with neither team pulling ahead by more than three points.

Westmont women’s tennis falls late to Regals

By JACOB NORLING

WESTMONT SPORTS WRITER

Westmont Women’s Tennis (08) came up one point short on Wednesday, when they fell to the Cal Lutheran Regals by a score of 4-3. The Warriors were shorthanded today with multiple starting players unavailable due to sickness, but still, Westmont’s less-familiar lineup came awfully close to tallying the club’s first win.

“This is one that could have been in the win column, so it’s hard,” said Westmont head coach Cade Pierson. “We never come into any match with expectations for an outcome, because the outcome is based on our effort and our attitude. The outcome is based on things we can control.

“We’ve taken really good lessons from really good opponents. Today, we faced off against a team right at our level, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to showcase what we’ve learned. Instead, it’s been a week where multiple players on our team have fallen ill and we’ve had some injuries flare up. So, we went into today’s match without three of our starting players and a brand new lineup.”

In doubles the two sides split the first two decisions, which included

Please see TENNIS on A10

UCSB defeats LMU in nail-biter

The UCSB men’s tennis team earned a victory over Loyola Marymount University last weeked, improving to a perfect 8-0 with the win.

LMU claimed the doubles point with wins on Courts one and two, leaving the Gauchos needing a comeback in singles play. This was accomplished starting with straight-set wins by junior Phillip Jordan and freshman Conrad Brown on courts one and six, respectively. Following another pair of wins by LMU on courts two and four, UCSB junior Luka Mrsic and sophomore Gianluca Brunkow won the last two matches on courts three and five, respectively, to earn the Gauchos the 4-3 win.

“The margins are very slim in college tennis and while it’s been great to see different team members step up to win matches throughout the season, we will look to clean up our doubles the next couple days before we take on a tough Boise State team,” said UCSB Head Coach Blake Muller.

UCSB will take on Boise State today at the Arnhold Tennis Center before traveling to Malibu on Sunday to play the Pepperdine Waves.

- Matt Smolensky

However, in the last 10 seconds, the Gauchos made a key play to earn a five-point lead with two seconds left before the Anteaters made a last-second three pointer as the home team was up 35-33 at the end of the first.

Ajay Mitchell played a strong first half, leading the Gauchos with 15 points while also contributing a steal. Along with that, half of the Anteaters’ fouls were drawn by Mitchell. In his first career start, Jakov Kukic was second on the team in points as he tallied eight.

At the start of the second half, UC Irvine came out strong, grabbing the lead from the Gauchos early. Even with the Gauchos making five-of-seven baskets while holding the Anteaters to no baskets in the middle of the second, it wasn’t enough to come back in this contest. UCSB ultimately dropped this Big West game 70-59.

LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS

• Mitchell continued with his great game as he led the Gauchos with 25 points. Along with that, he added on two assists while shooting at 57 percent from the field.

• Miles Norris led the defensive efforts as he grabbed the most rebounds with eight while adding on eight points. Kukic registered eight points of his own while adding on two steals and two assists.

• Calvin Wishart helped control the Gauchos’ offensive efforts as he contributed five assists on the evening.

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The Gauchos will hit the road as they make the trip to Riverside to take on the Highlanders of UC Riverside. Tipoff will be at 7 p.m. with a live stream available through ESPN+.

Kristen Keller is the associate athletic director for communications and digital strategy at UCSB.