UC Santa Barbara beats UC Riverside 92-87 in Big West semi

By The Associated Press

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Ajay Mitchell had 28 points in UC Santa Barbara’s 92-87 win over UC Riverside on Friday in the Big West Conference Tournament semifinals.

The No. 2 seed in the tournament, the Gauchos will face fourth-seeded Cal State Fullerton in Saturday’s tournament championship game.

Mitchell had seven assists for the Gauchos (24-7). Josh Pierre-Louis scored 20 points while shooting 8 of 13 from the field and 3 for 6 from the line, and added five assists. Miles Norris shot 5 for 7 (3 for 3 from 3-point range) and 3 of 3 from the free throw line to finish with 16 points, while adding six rebounds.

Flynn Cameron led the Highlanders (21-11) in scoring, finishing with 31 points and six assists. Zyon Pullin added 24 points and five assists for UC Riverside. In addition, Lachlan Olbrich finished with 12 points and seven rebounds.

Pierre-Louis scored 11 points in the first half and UCSB went into halftime trailing 42-39. Mitchell scored 18 points in the second half to help lead UCSB to a five-point victory.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.