UC Santa Barbara Defeats Boise State

Bakir Allen made a follow shot with 1:26 remaining to snap a 57-57 tie and UC Santa Barbara went on to beat Boise State, 60-57, Saturday night in Goleta.

Raymond Tutt, who had 24 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals, missed a 15-foot jump shot, but Allen was there for the rebound to put the Gauchos on top for good.

B.J. Bunton’s free throw with five seconds left completed the scoring. Boise State was unable to get a shot off after that.

Tutt, a junior transfer from Azusa Pacific, has led the Gauchos in scoring in each of their last 19 games. The 6-foot-4 guard is averaging 22.9 points.

Reserve Josh Merrill added nine points for UCSB (9-11, 4-6 Big West), which outrebounded the Broncos 40-21. Boise State (11-9, 6-4) had only three offensive rebounds to 14 for the Gauchos.

Joe Wyatt led the Broncos with 22 points. Roberto Bergersen added 11 points for Boise State.

The score was tied at halftime, 28-28. UCSB led 49-39 before the Broncos battled back to take a 56-55 lead. Two foul shots by Kealon Wallace with 2:27 remaining put the Gauchos ahead, 57-56. A free throw by Wyatt with 2:07 left tied the score, 57-57.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 72, Idaho 51--Ben Larson tied his career high with 25 points and tied the school record with seven three-point shots in nine attempts Saturday as Cal Poly San Luis Obispo beat Idaho at San Luis Obispo.

Larson, a sophomore guard, also had four assists and four steals for the Mustangs (11-12, 4-6), who snapped a six-game losing streak in conference action.

Mike Wozniak scored 17 points and Shanta Cotright and Damien Levesque each had 12 for Cal Poly, which forced 25 turnovers and recorded 13 steals. Cotright also had a game-high seven rebounds.

Eddie Turner provided the bulk of the Idaho offense with 21 points. He also had five rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Turner made seven of his 10 field-goal attempts; the rest of the Vandals were only 10 of 32 from the floor.

Kevin Byrne added nine points and six rebounds for Idaho (10-13, 3-7).

Cal Poly led, 37-23, at halftime, and extended its advantage to 24 points, 61-37, midway through the second half. Idaho wasn’t closer than 18 points after that.

The Mustangs had an odd shooting day. They made 13 of their 25 attempts from three-point range, and just 11 of their 32 tries from inside the three-point line. Idaho was three of seven from behind the three-point line.

BIG SKY

Montana State 83, Cal State Northridge 79--The Matadors lost their seventh consecutive game decided by seven points or fewer in front of 940 at Matador Gym.

Northridge (8-12, 4-6) trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half, pulled within two, but could not take the lead. Northridge has lost four games in a row, three in a row in which they trimmed a double-digit second-half deficit to two points or less.

Northridge point guard Trenton Cross scored 22 points. Forward Tom Samson scored 16 points on eight-for-nine shooting. Derrick Higgins added 13.

Montana State (13-11, 7-5) was led by guard Danny Sprinkle, who scored 22 points on six-for-nine shooting from three-point range. Sprinkle made six of seven three-point shots in the first half.