UCSB wins at the buzzer

Oh so close to number one
LBSU beats Cal Poly, loses at buzzer to UCSB

With Cal State Northridge's loss at Pacific Saturday Long Beach was 6.8 seconds from a share of the conference title and the number one seed in the Big West tournament.

But UCSB's James Nunnally hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Gauchos the 76-75 win and leave LBSU (15-14, 10-6 Big West) as the number two seed.

Despite the tie a LBSU win would have created atop the Big West standings, because of their two wins against the number three seed Pacific, they would have won the second tiebreaker and been awarded the number one seed over Northridge.

Stephan Gilling led all scorers with 23 points (going 6-of-11 from 3-point range) while Donovan Morris had 17 and T.J. Robinson scored 16, making all seven of his field goal attempts.

Nine of LBSU's last ten conference games were decided by six points or less.

They have alternated wins and losses for their last 11 games - a trend they would like to break this weekend - as they need two wins to clinch the Big West and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Long Beach plays in the semi-finals of the Big West tournament Friday night at the Anaheim Convention Center. The game will tip-off thirty minutes after the end of the first game which starts at 5:30 p.m.