UC Santa Barbara beats UC Irvine for Big West title, NCAA tournament berth
JaQuori McLaughlin scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half to help UC Santa Barbara beat UC Irvine 79-63 on Saturday night and win the Big West Conference tournament.
The Gauchos have won 18 of their last 19 since losing back-to-back games against UCI on Dec. 27 and Dec. 28 to open conference play and earned their first berth in the NCAA tournament since 2011.
McLaughlin hit two three-pointers and Robinson Idehen scored four points in a 10-0 run that gave the Gauchos their biggest lead at 59-44 with 8:22 to play. The Anteaters, whose six-game winning streak ended, trailed by double figures the rest of the way.
Maurice Calloo scored an unexpected 15 points as Oregon State defeated No. 23 Colorado 70-68 on Saturday night for its first Pac-12 tournament title.
Miles Norris added 19 points and Amadou Sow had 13 points and 11 rebounds for UCSB.
Collin Welp lead UCI (18-9) with 22 points, and DJ Davis added 11.
UCSB, which led for 37 minutes 31 seconds, committed a season-low-tying seven turnovers and scored 18 points off 10 Anteaters miscues.
The Gauchos shot 56.7% from the field in the second half and made 29 of 58 attempts overall.
UC Irvine won the regular-season and conference tournament crowns to earn a No. 13 seed in the 2019 NCAA tournament. The Anteaters beat No. 4 seed Kansas State before losing to Oregon in the second round.
Kofi Cockburn had 26 points Saturday, and No. 3 Illinois defeated No. 5 Iowa 82-71 to advance to the Big Ten tournament title game against Ohio State.
Women
UC Davis 61, UC Irvine 42: Former Fairmont Prep star Cierra Hall scored 23 points and Evanne Turner (Fontana) had 22 as the top-seeded Aggies pulled away late in the third quarter to win their second consecutive Big West women’s tournament championship.
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