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Nelson Is Clutch for Utah State

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From Staff and Wire Reports

Utah State is going to leave the Big West Conference after next season. UC Santa Barbara will be among the first to wave goodbye to the league’s perennial power.

Spencer Nelson scored nine consecutive points in a decisive 11-0 run Thursday to lead the Aggies to a 74-67 victory in a matchup of expected title contenders before 4,279 at the Thunderdome in Goleta.

Santa Barbara led, 63-57, before Nelson went on his scoring spree. The junior forward made four consecutive shots, including a three-point shot that gave Utah State (10-1, 2-0) a 66-63 lead with 2:38 remaining.

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“We knew there was plenty of time left,” said Nelson, who made six of seven shots and scored 15 points. “Maturity was the biggest part. We were able to get the game tied again, hit a big three-pointer and then take it from there.”

Cardell Butler, who had 18 points, finished the run with a dunk after stepping in front of a pass to Branduinn Fullove. In winning their seventh straight, the Aggies scored 17 of the game’s final 21 points. Santa Barbara (7-5, 1-2) missed seven consecutive shots down the stretch.

Utah State has won seven of the last nine meetings and six of the last eight in Santa Barbara.

“They were a little tougher than us down the stretch,” Santa Barbara Coach Bob Williams said. “They were just more physical. They executed their offense real well and made a concerted effort to get a post entry or take us off the dribble.”

Joe See gave the Gauchos a big lift with five three-point shots, four coming after halftime. Fullove scored 19 points as Santa Barbara shot 52%.

Utah State, the league’s top shooting team, countered by making 56.6% of its shots and committing a season-low eight turnovers.

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“You look at our three games in league and we’ve been bad in the last two or three minutes in each one of the games,” Williams said.

-- Eric Stephens

UC Irvine 72, Northridge 56 -- Guard Jeff Gloger scored 19 points and had nine rebounds and center Adam Parada added 18 points to lead the hot-shooting Anteaters to a Big West victory over the host Matadors.

Guard Joseph Frazier led Northridge (5-6, 1-2) with 14 points and center Eto Onyenegecha scored 13 points and had nine rebounds.

Irvine, which never trailed, made 26 of 46 shots (56.3%) and held a 35-23 advantage on the boards.

The Anteaters (7-5, 2-1) held a 19-5 lead with 9:13 left in the first half after sophomore guard Mike Efevberha made a three-pointer.

Northridge cut Irvine’s lead to 28-23 on a basket by guard Davin White 2:38 before halftime.

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The Matadors used a full-court press at the start of the second half and that led to several Anteater turnovers.

But Northridge never fully capitalized, partly because of poor free-throw shooting.

-- Paul McLeod

Pacific 70, Long Beach State 55 -- Sophomore forward Christian Maraker had game-high totals of 23 points and nine rebounds to lead the Tigers over the 49ers in Stockton.

With its fourth consecutive victory, Pacific (8-6) improved to 3-0 in the Big West. Long Beach State (4-8, 2-1) got 17 points and five rebounds from forward Kevin Roberts.

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