Santa Barbara Remains Unbeaten

UC Santa Barbara, still waiting to shake the distinction of being the nation’s only undefeated but unranked team, pulled away from Cal State Fullerton in the second half for a 69-59 Big West Conference victory Tuesday night before a sellout crowd of 6,000 in the Events Center.

The Gauchos fell behind by as many as 6 points in the first half, and held only a 32-29 halftime lead, but they put the Titans away behind Eric McArthur’s 15 second-half points. McArthur, a 6-foot 6-inch forward, finished with a career-high 25 points, and had 14 rebounds.

The victory was Santa Barbara’s 11th without a loss this season, setting a school record for consecutive victories.

The 11-0 mark is easily Santa Barbara’s best start, surpassing last season’s 7-0 start.

Santa Barbara is one of 4 undefeated Division I teams in the country. The others are No. 1 Duke, No. 2 Illinois and No. 20 Providence.

Fullerton had its sixth straight loss, falling to 5-7, 0-3 in the Big West Conference.

Fullerton took a 22-16 lead in the first half, using an aggressive match-up zone defense that helped cause several Santa Barbara turnovers.

But Santa Barbara took over the lead on a 3-point shot by Carrick DeHart (21 points) that put the Gauchos ahead, 23-22, with about 7 minutes left in the half.

Fullerton retied the score and then went ahead by 3 again. But a 7-1 run by the Gauchos gave them the 3-point halftime lead.

Fullerton went cold at the start of the second half. Cedric Ceballos, who had dispelled talk of a slump by scoring 14 points in the first half without missing a shot, missed a layup at the outset. Ceballos finished with 18 points, and for the Titans, it only got worse.

The Titans didn’t score in the second half until more than 4 minutes had passed, finally making a basket after Santa Barbara had scored the first 8 points. Fullerton fell behind by as many as 14 but cut the lead to 6 with 2:47 left.

But the Titans never got any closer as Santa Barbara made 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch.

“I’m very proud of our guys,” Fullerton Coach John Sneed said. “I think they probably played about as well as anyone has played Santa Barbara the first 20 minutes. I thought for 30 minutes we played pretty good basketball.

“(The Titans) haven’t surrendered by any means. They’re still playing every night even though we’ve lost this many games early. I’m proud of that.”