UCSB struggles to score in road loss at Northern Arizona

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - It's early but the Gauchos look bad offensively.

With 10 minutes left at Northern Arizona UCSB had not cracked 30 points and they went on to lose to the underdog Lumberjacks 63-54.

The Gauchos trailed 26-19 at the half but did take a brief lead at 27-26 after opening up the second half on an 8-0 run.

But NAU immediately responded with a 14-2 run of their own and controlled the game from there as UCSB drops 2-1 on the year.

UCSB scored 61 points in a win against Fresno State last week but had just 23 in the first half of that contest.

The Gauchos struggled against NCAA Division 2 school San Francisco State for large chunks of that game before pulling away late and winning 75-59.

UCSB was the preseason pick to win the Big West and was led in scoring by Ajay Mitchell who had a game-high 18 points.

Josh Pierre-Louis came off the bench and tallied 17 points but the Gauchos shot just 31.9 percent from the floor and made just 3-of-17 of their three-point attempts.

Cal transfer Andre Kelly missed his only 2 field goal attempts and finished with just 4 points in 28 minutes.

Northern Arizona has an altitude of 7,000 feet which may have affected the Gauchos big man this early in the season.

The Gauchos host Hampton on Monday, November 21 at 6pm.

Anyone bringing a canned food good gets free entry into the game.