UC San Diego secured a 64-63 win over UC Santa Barbara on Saturday night, closing the regular season at UCSB Events Center. Freshman Jaden Vance scored the winning layup with less than one second left, helping the Tritons finish tied for third in the Big West Conference standings. With this result, UC San Diego holds a 22-10 overall record and a 12-8 mark in conference play.
The Tritons will enter the upcoming Big West tournament as the No. 5 seed and are scheduled to face No. 8 Cal Poly in the opening round on Wednesday evening in Henderson, Nevada.
In Saturday’s game, UC San Diego recorded a season-high 16 steals, with Vance contributing five. The team scored 20 points off turnovers by UC Santa Barbara and posted 44 points in the paint. Bol Dengdit led all Triton scorers with 15 points; Tom Beattie added 14 and Hudson Mayes had 12. This marked UC San Diego’s twelfth win away from their home court this season.
UC Santa Barbara finished its regular season at 18-13 overall and 11-9 in conference play. The Gauchos are seeded seventh for the tournament and will play against UC Davis in their first game.
The contest opened with an early three-pointer from UCSB before UC San Diego responded with a nine-point run that included baskets from Beattie and Mayes. After falling behind, UCSB answered with twelve consecutive points to lead midway through the first half. However, UC San Diego regained momentum before halftime, highlighted by Vance’s steal and dunk and Leo Beath’s buzzer-beating three-pointer to give them a two-point lead at intermission.
Both teams shot 40% from the field during the first half. The Tritons forced seven turnovers while only giving up two of their own before halftime.
The second half featured several lead changes as both teams traded baskets. UCSB reclaimed the lead late on a layup by CJ Shaw with seven seconds remaining. Choosing not to call timeout, Beattie advanced upcourt under pressure and found Vance for what became the decisive basket.
The matchup included six ties and seventeen lead changes overall. Leo Beath contributed nine points along with eight rebounds for UC San Diego, which improved its record to 19-2 when leading at halftime this season.
UC San Diego now leads its all-time series against UCSB by one game (7-6).
Looking ahead, “UC San Diego begins its quest for a second straight Big West title on Wednesday night, when the Tritons take on Cal Poly at 6 p.m. in the Big West opening round from Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson,” according to information provided by UC San Diego Athletics. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and radio station 97.3 The Fan; live statistics will be available via UCSDtritons.com.
For more about UC San Diego Athletics’ transition to NCAA Division I membership after two decades of success in Division II—including numerous national championships and high graduation rates among scholar-athletes—visit UCSDtritons.com or follow @UCSDtritons on social media.
