UC San Diego Tritons vs UC Santa Barbara Gauchos
Tait-Jones' 20 lead UC San Diego past UC Santa Barbara in Big West Tournament semifinals, 69-51
HENDERSON, Nev. -- — Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones had 20 points in top-seeded UC San Diego's 69-51 win over fifth-seeded UC Santa Barbara on Friday in the Big West Conference Tournament semifinals.
The Tritons will face the winner of the semifinal between No. 2 UC Irvine and seventh-seeded Cal Poly in Saturday's championship game.
Tait-Jones also contributed eight rebounds, nine assists, and three blocks for the Tritons (29-4). Tyler McGhie scored 13 points while going 2 of 13 from the floor, including 2 for 10 from 3-point range, and 7 for 9 from the line and added five rebounds. Nordin Kapic shot 5 for 10, including 2 for 6 from beyond the arc to finish with 13 points. The Tritons picked up their 13th straight win.
Stephan D. Swenson led the Gauchos (21-13) in scoring, finishing with 12 points and six assists. UCSB also got 12 points from Ben Shtolzberg. Kenny Pohto had 10 points.
Tait-Jones scored seven points in the first half and UCSD went into halftime trailing 27-26. UCSD pulled off the victory after an 18-2 second-half run erased a two-point deficit and gave them the lead at 46-32 with 12:39 left in the half. Tait-Jones scored 13 second-half points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Game Information
Henderson, NV
Referee:Antinio Petty
Referee:Matthew Rukasin
Referee:Brooks Wells
2025-26 Standings
| Big West ConferenceBig West Conference | CONF | GB | OVR |
|---|---|---|---|
| UC Irvine | 15-5 | - | 23-12 |
| Hawai'i | 14-6 | 1 | 24-9 |
| UC San Diego | 12-8 | 3 | 23-11 |
| Cal State Northridge | 12-8 | 3 | 20-14 |
| Cal State Fullerton | 12-8 | 3 | 18-16 |
| UC Davis | 11-9 | 4 | 19-14 |
| UC Santa Barbara | 11-9 | 4 | 18-14 |
| Cal Poly | 10-10 | 5 | 14-19 |
| Long Beach State | 6-14 | 9 | 10-22 |
| UC Riverside | 5-15 | 10 | 10-22 |
| Cal State Bakersfield | 2-18 | 13 | 8-24 |
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