Gauchos feast on overmatched Mississippi Valley State

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara Men's Basketball team won their second of two contests in the Mountain to Sea Showcase as they defeated Mississippi Valley State 81-48. Following the contest, Jason Fontenet II, Zion Sensley and Deuce Turner were named to the All-Tournament team with Kenny Pohto taking home the MVP.

FROM HEAD COACH JOE PASTERNACK
"I thought we were locked in to begin the game," said Pasternack. "We corrected some stuff from the last game and a lot of guys got minutes tonight, which is great. our 19 assists to eight turnovers was big for us tonight."

HOW IT HAPPENED
After the opening tip, both sides traded baskets staying deadlocked at four a side, but a three-pointers by Jason Fontenet II and two from Cole Anderson quickly built a seven point Gaucho lead. Both sides against started to trade baskets for a bit but the Gauchos started to build on their early lead. Santa Barbara quickly built there lead to 11. After the under four minute media timeout the Gauchos went on a 11-0 run to close the half and go into the break by 22. The Gauchos offense was versatile and deep having five different players score during the run.

Coming out of the break, UC Santa Barbara continues to build their lead. Kenny Pohto scored the Gauchos first five points of the half to extend their lead to 27. From there the Gauchos only built a bigger cushion. Zion Sensley, Ariel Bland and Deuce Turner all got in on the scoring and build the lead to 60-27 prior to the under 12 minute media timeout. Santa Barbara did not allow Mississippi Valley State to to inch much closer throughout the remainder of the second half and ultimately defeated the Delta Devils 81-48.

UP NEXT
UC Santa Barbara will wrap up their home stand next Thursday, Dec. 5 as they host UC San Diego. The Gauchos and Tritons will tip off at 7 p.m. inside The Thunderdome. For those unable to attend the game will be streamed through ESPN+.

(Article courtesy of UCSB)