UCSB tops Riverside

James Powell scored 25 points, including six three-point baskets, as UC Santa Barbara outlasted UC Riverside, 64-53, for a Big West victory Wednesday night in Riverside.

Santa Barbara, 16-5 overall and 5-3 in the conference, won for the fourth time in five games after the Highlanders (4-15, 1-7) reduced a 14-point second-half deficit to 52-50 on Jalonni Diggs’ 15-foot jump shot with 5:47 left. But the Gauchos held Riverside scoreless for more than four minutes and scored 12 straight to ice it.

Powell and Alex Harris paced the Gauchos by shooting a combined 11 for 17 from three-point range.

Larry Cunningham had 13 points for Riverside, which lost for the ninth time in its last 10 games.