The UCSB men’s basketball team closed out the regular season in a big way Thursday night taking down Hawai’i on senior night 67-60.
The Gauchos fed off the energy from a packed Thunderdome that saw its highest attendance of the season at over 3,500 fans. The win, combined with a loss for UC Davis tonight put the Gauchos into the top-six of the Big West and pushed them past the first round of the Big West Tournament next week.
Junior guard Josh Pierre-Louis led the way with 16 points shooting 50% from the field and making 6-of-7 free-throws in big moments. He added three rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Senior forward Amadou Sow was his usual self in his final Thunderdome game going 6-for 7-for 14 points, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a block.
Senior forward Miles Norris finished his T-Dome career with a 12-point performance adding seven boards, two assists, two steals, and a block.
UCSB outscored UH in the paint 46-22 and the Gauchos bench provided 15 points to just two for the Rainbow Warriors.
The two teams split the time with the lead nearly down the middle in what was a close contest throughout that featured three lead changes and ties and never saw a team lead by double-digits.
UCSB got out to a hot start parlaying an 11-0 run into a 11-2 lead, capitalizing on Warriors turnovers to get the game started on the right foot.
Unfortunately, deja-vu would strike for the Gauchos as Hawai’i posted a 15-0 run to chip away and take its first lead of the contest (other than being up 2-0) at 20-18 with just over seven minutes to go.
The Bows’ lead grew to as much as eight, but a handful of gritty, professional possessions kept the Gauchos alive as Ajare Sanni and Sow made two late buckets to cut the halftime lead to just three.
Hawai’i stayed out in front by a few through the first 10 minutes of the period until Pierre-Louis took the game into his hands going 4-for-6 from the field and 5-for-5 from the line to find 13 second-half points.
After regaining the lead at 46-44 with under 10 minutes to go, the Gauchos held on for the rest of the contest making timely buckets and huge defensive plays to close out the regular season on a five-game win streak.
Daniel Moebus-Bowles writes about sports for UCSB.
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