Townsend, Northridge too tough for Davis

Tremaine Townsend scored 21 points and grabbed 22 rebounds Saturday night at Davis as Cal State Northridge defeated UC Davis, 77-57, to remain in a first-place tie with Pacific in the Big West Conference.

Townsend scored 18 of his 21 after halftime as the Matadors, 16-6 overall, 8-2 Big West, pulled away from the last-place Aggies (8-15, 2-8). Townsend’s rebounds are the most by a Big West player this season and two short of the school record.

Despite his big night, this was a close game for a long time. Northridge led, 48-46, with 11:17 remaining. The Matadors then made three-point baskets on three consecutive possessions to start a 20-4 run.

Pacific 70, Long Beach State 55 -- Pacific’s bench outscored that of the 49ers, 34-8, at Stockton as the Tigers improved to 17-6 and remained tied atop the Big West with Cal State Northridge.

Long Beach (5-17, 2-8) made a run at Pacific early in the second half behind Donovan Morris, who scored a game-high 30 points.

Morris scored 11 consecutive points to cut a 12-point Pacific lead to 54-49 with 11:30 remaining, but the 49ers never got closer.

UC Irvine 65, UC Santa Barbara 59 -- The Anteaters (10-13, 5-5 Big West) held the Gauchos (17-6, 6-4) to two baskets during the final nine minutes at Santa Barbara, outscoring them, 28-12.

Patrick Sanders scored eight of his game-high 18 points in the final 11:20 as the Anteaters rallied from a 10-point deficit.

Santa Barbara shot 63% in the first 25 minutes, taking a 47-37 lead on Justin Joyner’s three-pointer, but the Gauchos made only four of their last 25 shots.

Irvine took the lead for good at 54-52 on a fastbreak layup by Marcus McIntosh with 7:15 to play. McIntosh scored 16 points, and Darren Fells added nine with 12 rebounds for the Anteaters.

Cal State Fullerton 80, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 67 -- Frank Robinson scored 27 points to lead the Titans (15-7, 8-3 Big West) past the Mustangs (9-13, 4-6) at San Luis Obispo.

Fullerton used a 24-8 run over the final 10 minutes of the first half to take control of the game. The Titans maintained most of an eight-point halftime lead before stretching it out in the final minutes.

Robinson’s three-point basket with four minutes to play ended an 8-0 run by the Mustangs.

Gonzaga 101, Pepperdine 59 -- The Bulldogs (18-5, 7-1 West Coast Conference) shot 54% from the field and had 12 of their 13 players score in their 13th consecutive win over the visiting Waves (7-17, 1-7).

Micah Downs scored 18 points, Austin Daye had 17 points and nine rebounds, and Jeremy Pargo had 13 points and 12 assists to lead Gonzaga.

Jon Reed scored 14 points to lead the Waves, who dropped to 1-5 under interim Coach Eric Bridgeland.

Portland 74, Loyola Marymount 63 -- The Pilots (8-16, 2-6 West Coast) ended a six-game conference losing streak by beating the Lions (5-19, 2-6) at Portland, Ore.

Nik Raivio scored 17 points to lead the Pilots. Shawn Deadwiler led Loyola with 15 points, but only four in the second half.

Loyola got to within 60-56 on two free throws each by Deadwiler and Orlando Johnson, but the Lions got no closer the rest of the way.