Arizona Beats Santa Barbara

UC Santa Barbara had a legitimate shot at Arizona.

No one can ever say Mark Hull didn’t take his best one in an 86-81 loss.

Hull made eight of 11 three-pointers--an astonishing six of six in the first half--and finished with 32 points in the Gauchos’ first-round NCAA West Regional loss to Arizona on Thursday night at the Pit.

Santa Barbara was making its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1990, but the Gauchos didn’t look like rookies.

They led by three at halftime, then fell behind by 11 in the second half.

But with 17 seconds left in the game, they trailed by only three after Chrismen Oliver drained a three from the right side.

Arizona (23-9) got the ball to Salim Stoudamire--the freshman who shoots 92% from the line--and he made the first two of his four free throws down the stretch.

Santa Barbara (20-11) quickly scored inside to cut the lead back to three, but Arizona once again got the ball to Stoudamire, and he gave the Wildcats a five-point lead with four seconds left.

“It’s obvious with this one and the other games today, this is a matter of survival,” Arizona Coach Lute Olson said. “We survived--not by much, but we survived.”

They survived to advance to a second-round game Saturday against Wyoming--an upset winner over Gonzaga.

Hull was playing with a broken nose--an injury he suffered in the Big West semifinals against UC Irvine--but he didn’t miss a three-pointer in the first half, and he didn’t miss his second until only 3:27 remained in the game.

He needed only 13 shots to score 32 points, and didn’t miss in eight trips to the foul line.

“I guess I was just feeling it. Usually if I hit one [three], that’s enough for me to get going,” said Hull, whose previous high was seven threes in a game.

His third miss came with 1:20 left--with a chance to cut it to one.

Santa Barbara shot 59% from three-point range, making 16 of 27.

Olson faulted his players for not moving well without the ball in the first half, when they shot 32%. They did better in the second, and shot 59% over the final 20 minutes.

By the time Rick Anderson and Stoudamire made consecutive threes with a little less than eight minutes left, Arizona led by 11.

But Santa Barbara didn’t quit. The lead was six with three minutes left, four with two.

And after Nick Jones picked up a loose ball at Arizona’s end and sprinted to the other end to make a layup and get fouled, the lead was only two with 1:44 left.

He missed the free throw, but Santa Barbara was in the game.

Jason Gardner finished with 28 points--including four of seven threes--and five assists, and Anderson had 19 points and nine rebounds. Luke Walton had 11 points and seven assists.

Santa Barbara’s visit is over.

“It was sad in the locker room,” Coach Bob Williams said. “When CBS was in the locker room, we [held it together]. After CBS got out, it was tough.”