Late rally by UCSB falls one point short in loss to UC Irvine

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Freshman Cole Anderson's off-balance jump shot was off the mark as the Gauchos late second half rally falls short in a 53-52 loss to UC Irvine in the first home game at UCSB since December 22.

UCSB trailed by 13 points with just over 8 minutes left but climbed back into the game behind a terrific defensive effort in the second half.

Irvine scored just 20 second half points and did not score a point in the final 3:53 seconds of the game.

UCSB finished the game on an 8-0 run and pulled within one point on a three-pointer by Anderson with 7.4 seconds left.

The Gauchos forced a 5-second call as Irvine could not inbound the ball so UCSB had one more chance but could not pull out the dramatic win as they fell to 1-4 in the Big West and 8-9 overall.

Amadou Sow led UCSB with 17 points and 11 rebounds.