SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The Oakland Golden Grizzlies (0-3, 0-0 HL) fell to the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (2-0, 0-0 BWC), 90-67, on Saturday afternoon at The Thunderdome. Oakland finished with 16 assists and ramped the distance shots, making 10 three-pointers, while UCSB hit 18 of 29 from beyond the arc. The Golden Grizzlies got 32 points from their bench and scored 40 points in the second half after trailing 11 points at halftime.
"Other than the final score, I was pretty pleased with our effort today," said head coach
Greg Kampe. "What we did was kind of insane, I am exhausted and I didn't play. It is what it is and I think we competed, but our bodies weren't where they should be and did not help them get open as the game went on."
Junior
Nassim Mashhour scored 19 points, hit four 3-pointers and added three assists, as senior
Chris Fields Jr. finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds, including three offensive boards for his second Golden Grizzly double-double of the season. Senior
RJ Taylor tallied six points on two 3-pointers and recorded three assists. Sophomore
Brady Swartz added seven points on 3-of-5 shooting with a steal.
Oakland was tied 18-18 after junior
Warren Marshall IV's free throw with 6:47 left in the first half, but UCSB answered and finished the half ahead 38-27. Earlier, Oakland started with perimeter scoring, as Mashhour hit three 3-pointers in the opening 4:03, including baskets that put Oakland ahead 3-2 and 6-4, and Fields Jr. added a 3-pointer at 14:52 for a 14-10 lead. Sophomore
Hamoudy Mashhour's 3-pointer with 12:11 left put Oakland in front 17-13, but Oakland went without a made field goal until Fields Jr. scored inside at 6:00. Taylor later connected from 3-point range and N. Mashhour made four free throws in the final five minutes, but Oakland shot 8-for-24 overall while the Gauchos closed the half with the lead.
Oakland shot 15-for-25 in the second half, but UCSB hit 12 three-pointers in the half and kept widening the gap on the way to a 90-67 final. Earlier, sophomore
Ryder Bradley opened Oakland's half with a 3-pointer, Marshall IV scored inside, and sophomore
Camden Thompson made two free throws to bring Oakland to 34-44 before UCSB answered from the arc. Swartz helped Oakland respond with a three-pointer, then followed his steal with a fast-break dunk to make it 39-47, and Fields Jr. added a layup at 14:22. The Gauchos pushed the score to 64-43 before N. Mashhour scored inside and hit a 3-pointer, while Oakland continued to get late baskets from junior
Nate Ahner, Fields Jr., Taylor, freshman
Isaiah Theodile, and Thompson. UCSB finished with a 52-40 scoring edge in the half, and Oakland fell by 23 points.
Continuing on their four-game road test, Oakland travels to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to face No. 20 Alabama on Monday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m. The game will be available to stream on SECN+.
How to Follow Oakland Men's Basketball: For complete information on Oakland Men's Basketball follow the team on X at
@OaklandMBB and head coach
Greg Kampe at
@KampeOU. The team is also on
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