Andie Lopez Bornet
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – With Valentines Day this weekend, flowers and chocolates are not the only thing to buy for your significant other.
Wine is the perfect gift for someone who enjoys that crisp Rosé or tart glass of red.
Jamie Knee of Petite Wine Traveler was back on the Morning News to tell you which wine would pair well with your Valentines Day.
Andie Lopez Bornet
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – She is in some of the most iconic movies from the 2000s.
And Friday the remarkable Kate Hudson arrived at the Santa Barbara Arlington Theater smiling ear to ear to be honored with the Arlington Artist of the Year Award
“I loved celebrating our film and i think it’ll be really interesting to see the retrospective of my life in movies,” said Actress and Singer Kate Hudson.
The prestigious award was given to Hudson for her role as Claire Sardina in the critically acclaimed musical drama, “Song Sung Blue” where she delivers a sophisticated performance, making the audience feel every emotion through the movie screen.
“It’s not very often you get to do everything I was able to do in the movie in one film,” said Hudson. “And Claire, portraying her life, you know she’s a real woman, she’s still alive today, was such a privilege and allowed me to explore things I haven’t been able to explore before on film.”
“I think there’s so much heart and the fact that the characters are so relatable in an every man and every woman character role, it’s so exciting to see her here.” said SBIFF Director of Development, Benjamin Bhutani Goedert.
The role in “Song Sung Blue” has earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
She was previously nominated for Best Supporting Actress for the film “Almost Famous” which came out in the year 2000.
“Great work, we love it seriously, just go forever really,” said Anthony Pascale, a fan of Kate Hudson.
You can watch “Song Sung Blue” on Amazon Prime.
Jarrod Zinn
GUADALUPE, Calif. (KEYT) – There’s excitement in Guadalupe during construction of a new skate park.
This is a first for the city.
Local skaters are eager for this construction to be completed.
Plenty of people are ready for the work to finish.
“It’s happening, and it’s happening fast,” says Sebastian Chavez, who lives in Guadalupe. “I’m stoked. So happy. I’m already planning out my first little runs, and I know a lot of people are, too.”
Not only is skating one of the most affordable means of transportation in the world, there’s an entire subculture existing around it as a sport.
And a newer type of skateboard called the “razor” scooter has made skating even more popular.
“This has been in the works for years,” says Chavez. “Even before, since I was born. Even Tony Hawk was going to give 1 million or $2 million grant, to help fund a park, but the city of Guadalupe politely declined.”
For kids and enthusiasts local to Guadalupe, this park is sure to serve as a relief from the inconvenience of having to drive all the way to Santa Maria or Nipomo for the nearest skate parks.
“It doesn’t matter from what point of town,” says Arnulfo Navarro III, Guadalupe Recreation Services Manager. “It’s ten minutes away.”
Contractors here at Las Mujeres park think they’ll be done and ready to open this summer, about 150 days total of work.
“This adds opportunity for kids to have,” says Navarro. “I understand it because I grew up with limitations of facilities. You can’t really get better at what you want to get better at in sports without proper facilities.”
Other work is being done as well to improve the park.
A dog park, a bocce ball court and a basketball half court are all part of the improvements.
Along with picnic tables and a playground themed after the Guadalaupe Dunes.
The Latest Breaking News, Weather Alerts, Sports and More Anytime On OurMobile Apps. Keep Up With The Latest Articles by Signing Up for theNews Channel 3-12 Newsletter.
Patricia Martellotti
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Love is in the air at the Santa Barbara Zoo this Valentine’s Day.
The zoo is celebrating with special keeper talks that highlight the bonds between some of its most famous animal pairs.
Visitors can learn fun facts about how penguins, condors, and other species show affection in the wild.
Valentine-themed activities and photo opportunities are planned throughout the day.
Zoo staff hope it’s a fun way to share a little wild love with the whole family.
Andrew Gillies
OXNARD, Calif. (KEYT) – On Oct. 16 of last year, Leo Martinez, an activist with local immigrant rights group VC Defensa, was recording federal immigration operations when agents drove their vehicle into truck he was driving, claimed he had hit them, and then took him into custody.
Videos, images, and accounts that came out the same day and since then have revealed a very different version of events that directly contradict statements made by federal agents to local dispatchers and responding officers.
The difference between what was captured on camera and what was reported by federal agents was something Oxnard Police Department’s Chief of Police Jason Benites noted to Your News Channel back in October.
“At about 11 AM, a video surfaced on social media. The video depicts a silver Jeep Grand Cherokee, driven by ICE agents, broadsiding a grey Nissan Frontier. The person who was arrested by the agents is driving the Nissan. Though the video does not tell the entire story, such as what may have preceded the video, it calls to question what may have transpired.”
Martinez was eventually taken from the scene by federal agents to Las Robles Medical Center in Thousand Oaks and was released from a federal detention facility in Los Angeles around 3 p.m. the same day.
He was told he was facing charges related to the incident, but he has yet to be formally charged in any jurisdiction.
Your News Channel interviewed Martinez after his release and he shared footage from inside his truck that captured elements of the incident that do not match the accounts provided to Ventura County dispatchers and Oxnard Police officers by federal agents.
To confirm what happened before Martinez was taken away by federal agents from the dirt lot off of A Street in Oxnard back in October, Your News Channel reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and the Oxnard Police Department before filing requests through the California Public Records Act for the local police department as well as a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the federal agency.
While the federal government responded to Your News Channel’s questions with an indirect statement about the incident followed by a blanket denial of Your News Channel’s FOIA request for more information, the local police agency did comply with state disclosure laws by providing written accounts from two of the involved officers with the Oxnard Police Department, Officer Wood and Officer Flannery, who responded to the scene on Oct. 16.
In December, the Oxnard Police Department provided body-worn camera footage from six officers who responded to the scene in compliance with the state disclosure law.
According to the written accounts and body camera footage reviewed by Your News Channel, officers were initially dispatched to the area for a road rage incident reported to dispatchers by an uninvolved driver around 7:48 a.m. on Oct. 16, 2025.
The person who called in what they believed was a road rage incident described a silver Jeep ramming a black truck, but they didn’t see who was driving either vehicle noted Officer Wood in his written account.
At 7:59 a.m., a Ventura County dispatcher received a call from a person who stated they were an agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and that they were pursuing a Nissan Frontier truck after it had collided with their silver Jeep Cherokee in the area of 255 West Fifth Street.
The caller requested that local law enforcement respond to assist with the ongoing “safety incident” detailed Officer Wood.
Officers Flannery and Espinosa with the Oxnard Police Department were working in a two-man unit in a marked patrol car when they were sent to the scene of the reported hit-and-run noted Officer Flannery’s written account.
The duo conducted a traffic stop on the involved truck and the driver, later identified as Leo Martinez of Oxnard, pulled over into a dirt lot at the intersection of Oxnard Boulevard and A Street where he cooperated with investigating officers explained Officer Wood in his written account.
Oxnard Police Officer Wood’s Body Camera footage showing officers asking Leo Martinez to exit his truck on Oct. 16, 2025.
Body camera footage revealed officers had Leo Martinez exit his truck from the passenger side due to the damage to the driver’s side of the vehicle.
Officer Wood stated in his written account that he spotted major front end damage to the silver Jeep at the scene and asked that the occupants of the Jeep -who identified themselves and wore insignias indicating they were federal agents- to move their damaged vehicle away from the other involved party, Leo Martinez.
He then informed all law enforcement personnel at the scene that he would be managing the investigation into the road rage incident his written account noted.
Officers then conducted interviews with federal agents and Leo Martinez.
According to Officer Brown’s and Wood’s body cam footage, a person wearing an FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) insignia stated that multiple vehicles had boxed in the agent’s vehicle before the collision with Leo Martinez’s truck occurred.
A person wearing an FBI insignia informing investigating officers that Leo Martinez had intentionally rammed into federal agents alongside other activists. Image from OPD Officer Wood’s Body Camera on Oct. 16, 2025.
Your News Channel reached out to the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office to confirm that the woman shown in the image above is an FBI agent.
While the federal law enforcement agency stated that FBI agents have and do assist the Department of Homeland Security with operations, they did not confirm the woman sharing information about a coordinated attack on federal agents on Oct. 16, 2025, is an agent nor if an agent was assigned to the group of federal agents for a particular law enforcement purpose that day.
“The FBI is an intelligence-driven and threat-focused national security organization with both intelligence and law enforcement responsibilities,” states the About page for the federal agency. “It is the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Justice and a full member of the U.S. Intelligence Community.
A DHS spokesperson stated in October that federal agents were seeking to apprehend a Mexican national who is a registered sex offender on Oct. 16, 2025, but no other details about the operation, including if it was authorized by a judicial warrant or involved national security elements, were provided despite multiple requests for more information.
Oxnard Police Officers interviewed the man who identified himself as a federal agent and the driver of the vehicle with federal agents inside and his description of the incident shared with investigating officers is shown below from OPD Officer Flannery’s body camera video.
Officer Flannery’s body camera also captured Leo Martinez’s account of the incident and that he feared what would happen if he stopped after agents activated their roof lights following the collision that damaged both vehicles.
Your News Channel did not alter the body camera footage provided by the Oxnard Police Department and shared in this article. Leo Martinez’s face was blurred in the original versions provided by the local law enforcement agency.
Officer Melgoza’s body cameras showed that protesters who gathered at the scene shouted that the federal agents had rammed Leo Martinez and that it was captured on camera.
One protester was heard warning federal agents that recordings of the collision would be, “on the news tonight”.
VC Defensa shared a video on social media hours later showing an SUV deliberately colliding with the truck driven by Leo Martinez.
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Notably, the front-end damage spotted by Officer Wood is not present in the videos shared by both VC Defensa hours later and by Leo Martinez days later indicating there was no major collision that federal agents reported to dispatchers and investigating officers at the scene and certainly not indicative of a coordinated vehicular attack by multiple observers detailed at the scene by a federal agent.
The images below showed the sequence of the second collision from another angle which capture both the largely undamaged front end of the agent’s vehicle and the sequence of events leading to the collision.
Martinez shared with Oxnard Police Officers interviewing him at the scene that he was recording the agents when they became aggressive and began to closely follow him as he made a series of U-turns before they agent’s vehicle rammed into him.
The federal agent who told officers at the scene he was the one driving the Jeep reported to Officer Flannery that agents had attempted to initiate contact with Martinez by positioning their vehicle behind Martinez’s truck.
The driving agent then claimed Martinez had began to drive away before coming to an abrupt stop and reversing into the agent’s vehicle stated Officer Flannery’s written account and captured his body camera at the scene.
According to Officer Flannery’s written account and body cam footage, the agent then claimed that both vehicles began to pull forward and, before he could activate the vehicle’s emergency lights to conduct a traffic stop, Martinez suddenly made, “a quick sharp turn to the left, directly in front of the agent’s path, and he [the agent driving the Jeep] was unable to stop in time to avoid a collision.”
Responding officers even noted the wide discrepancies between what federal agents and Leo Martinez had shared at the scene and one officer mentioned to Leo Martinez that there were multiple cameras along the route of the slow-speed chase before concluding, “Cameras don’t lie.”
Federal agents noted to Oxnard Police Officers Wood and Rebollar more than once that video of the collision was recorded by Leo Martinez and that he had thrown the device into another vehicle before stopping.
A supervisor of the federal agents, who arrived at the scene later, reminded Oxnard Police officers that a recording device had been tossed to other activists before officers had stopped Leo Martinez.
Video of the crash would be a crucial element in any investigation and especially in court proceeding if charges had been filed against Leo Martinez, but what baffled local officers at the scene was a lack of interest in taking possession of Leo Martinez’s truck, the ostensible weapon connected to their claims of an attack.
Ultimately, agents left the scene without sharing a plan on retrieving the damaged truck and Oxnard Police officers left it at the scene with the keys inside after a discussion amongst themselves their respective body cameras captured.
Video recordings of violent encounters with federal agents have played a crucial role in determining the accuracy of statements from the federal government and served as a catalyst for investigations, but in some cases, including that of Renee Good, who was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis last month, the Department of Justice has declined to investigate.
“[T]here is currently no basis for a criminal civil rights investigation,” stated Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in response to the death of Renee Good.
Additionally, in November of last year, federal prosecutors dropped felony charges against Marimar Martinez, a Chicago educator shot five times by a Border Patrol agent during Operation Midway Blitz late last year, after body camera evidence emerged that contradicted agent’s accounts and statements by federal officials.
During October’s incident in Oxnard, federal agents spoke with a person the agents shared was the “AUSA”, an acronym often used to refer to an Assistant U.S. Attorney, a federal prosecutor, and the federal agent’s supervisor stated the decision about what was going to happen to Leo Martinez that day was ultimately up to the “AUSA” captured OPD Officer Wood’s body camera.
Your News Channel reached out to federal prosecutors in Los Angeles, which includes Ventura County in its jurisdictional responsibilities, multiple times about what appeared to be legal counsel at the scene, the nature of its involvement in the incident, and what charges Leo Martinez was facing.
Despite the written and recorded evidence of the participation of at least one federal prosecutor, likely within their office a spokesperson later admitted, the First Assistant’s Office declined to confirm the person identified by federal agents as an Assistant U.S. Attorney was a prosecutor from their office.
The First Assistant’s Office then claimed that the content of the conversation captured by Oxnard Police officer’s body cameras and reviewed by Your News Channel is private information under attorney-client privilege and could be subject to litigation if aired.
Regardless of the content of the phone call, the context of potentially unlawful actions by federal employees with at least two different Department-level federal agencies, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, on Oct. 16, 2025, is an indication that agents at the scene were not operating without permission, their actions were part of an inter-agency operation that is not common procedure, and is vitally important to share with the public regarding the tactics being employed by federal law enforcement to conduct actions in the area and nationwide.
The stark difference between the accounts provided by federal agents and the body camera videos provided by the Oxnard Police Department, written statements from responding officers, and videos and interviews with other people and organizations is a clear indication of a potential abuse of federal law enforcement authority to shut down a local investigation into their actions.
That allegation is the subject of an official complaint filed with the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General.
The Inspector General Act of 1978 established nonpartisan offices within the federal government to provide independant oversight and objective investigations.
Of the over 70 inspector general positions that exist today, most are appointed by the President and require confirmation by the Senate.
In the first month of his second term, President Trump fired inspector generals at 17 different federal agencies and many positions remain vacant to this day.
The complaint filed regarding the actions of federal agents in October is not subject to federal disclosure laws until after it is closed so Your News Channel filed a request proactively seeking information about what the federal watchdog did after receiving the complaint.
In response, ICE’s FOIA Office denied our request for an expedited answer in December of last year stating, “You failed to demonstrate a particular urgency to inform the public about the government activity involved in the request beyond the public’s right to know about government activity generally. Your letter was conclusory in nature and did not present any facts to justify a grant of expedited processing under the applicable standards.”
“The complaint detailed allegations of violent actions, abuse of power, and providing knowingly false information to law enforcement by federal agents on Oct. 16, 2025,” explained Your News Channel in its appeal of the decision filed the same day as the Dec. 15, 2025, denial. “Further information received since filing the FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] request through state disclosure laws indicates multiple federal agents knowingly provided false information to investigators/dispatchers, unlawfully took over an investigation into their actions, transported the involved victim to another jurisdiction, and threatened him with prosecution.”
Additionally, while the federal agency categorized the FOIA request as “conclusory in nature” as part of its justification to deny a rapid response, the request was technically for information generated by the Office of Inspector General investigating the complaint filed by Your News Channel.
In other words, Your News Channel can confidently conclude that the complaint is real because Your News Channel author filed it, personally.
What was being requested through the federal disclosure law and denied an expedited response was the nature of the federal watchdog’s response to the complaint, not the allegations within the complaint.
Even if the complaint was conclusory in nature and there are extenuating circumstances not covered by Your News Channel or captured on camera, involved federal agencies have every reason to prove our coverage was and is inaccurate by investigating the complaint and providing their findings to the public.
“The information provided in the initial request clearly satisfied both conditions detailed in 6 C.F.R. § 5.5(e)(1)(i) and 6 C.F.R. § 5.5(e)(1)(ii) even if they were unsubstantiated claims lacking evidence,” concluded Your News Channel in its appeal in December of last year. “The decision to deny the expedited request while ignoring the substantial evidence of wrongdoing is itself a demonstration of the damning nature of the information requested, an example of an ongoing threat to the victim, and a clear example of the urgent need to provide that information to the public.”
Mike Klan
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT)
Girls Basketball First Round:
Division 1: Ventura 59, Notre Dame/SO: Kai Staniland scored 27 points and Brinley Anderson added 24 points as the Cougars improve to 25-4.
St. Bonaventure 43, Thousand Oaks 37: Lucille Devericks scored 12 points for the Seraphs.
St. Anthony 62, Oaks Christian 37
Division 2: Dos Pueblos 53, Los Alamitos 43: Kindah Amad-Reda collected a double-double for the Chargers with 16 points and 12 rebounds. DP hosts San Juan Hills on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Camarillo 54, South Torrance 32
San Clemente 52, San Marcos 29
Division 3: Oxnard 62, Cypress 53: Gia Angell poured in 24 points for the Yellowjackets.
Aliso Niguel 49, Rio Mesa 46
Division 4: Canyon/Anaheim 55, Moorpark 22
Westlake 66, Hesperia Christian 35
Division 5: Bishop Diego 62 Milken Community 54: Eden Wynne scored 22 points and grabbed 8 rebounds for the Cardinals. Bishop plays at Fullerton on Saturday.
Culver City 44, Santa Paula 40
Division 6: Carpinteria 69, San Gabriel Academy 39: Warriors host San Jacinto on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Division 7: Fillmore 31, Hawthorne MSA 29
Foothill Tech 50, Lucerne Valley 24
Villanova Prep 56, Santa Monica Academy 45
Division 8: Yucca Valley 61, Laguna Blanca 20
Santa Ana Valley 54, Providence/SB 10
Division 9: Channel Islands 65, Bethel Christian/R 12
La Sierra 37, Cate 35
Valley Christian Academy 39, Rancho Alamitos 37
Temple City 52, San Luis Obispo Classical 16
Girls Soccer First Round:
Division 1: Westlake 3, Fairmont Prep 2
Rosary Academy 1, Thousand Oaks 1: Rosary Academy advances on PK’s
Capistrano Valley 3, Camarillo 2
Division 2: Ayala 3, Buena 0
La Mirada 1, Dos Pueblos 0: Chargers had some late scoring chances but could not get the equalizer
(Entenza Design).
Oxnard 2, Mayfield 0
Costa Mesa 2, Ventura 1
Simi Valley 1, Notre Dame Academy 0
Division 5: Anaheim 2, Fillmore 1
Channel Islands 5, Century 1
Carpinteria 3, Burbank 0
Santa Paula 3, Charter Oak 2
Del Sol 2, Northview 1
Division 6: Thacher 1, Orange Vista 1: Thacher advances on PK’s.
Grace 2, Village Christian 0
Division 7: Cate 4, Pioneer 0
Division 8: Mountain View 2, Bishop Diego 0
Indian Springs 1, Laguna Blanca 0
Mike Klan
GOLETA, Calif. (KEYT) – This loss is going to sting for awhile.
Dos Pueblos played an outstanding second half but the horse was already out of the barn.
A furious DP comeback came up inches short in a 10-9 loss to Agoura in a CIF-Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinal.
Devereaux Wigo, who had a game-high five goals for DP, lofted an outside shot as time expired that was knocked around at the cage but did not cross the goal and the season ended for the home Chargers.
DP got behind 6-2 after the first quarter but star goalie Reagan Mack entered the game to begin the second quarter and steadied the defense the rest of the way.
Mack was not 100 percent as she is dealing with an injured shoulder but down by four goals she gave it try and she was outstanding.
Dos Pueblos trailed 9-5 at the half but Mack only allowed one second half goal.
Mack made several key saves including stopping a penalty shot early in the fourth quarter as well as a spectacular one-handed block with just over two minutes remaining.
With Mack shutting down the Agoura attack, Dos Pueblos chipped away at the lead.
Wigo had two goals in the third quarter and one more early in the fourth to cut the deficit to 10-8.
Keira McAvoy scored her second goal of the game with 4:05 left and DP was down just 10-.
But despite several good scoring opportunities Dos Pueblos just could not tie it up and they finish a strong season at 19-8.
Mike Klan
UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – This was suppose to be a ‘get right game’ for the UCSB women’s basketball team.
Instead it was another loss.
The Gauchos were upset at home by UC Riverside 69-62, the fourth loss in the past five games for UCSB.
Trailing 48-36, UCSB finished the third quarter on an 11-0 run and had all of the momentum heading into the final ten minutes of the game.
With Zoe Borter scoring 7 quick points early in the fourth quarter UCSB grabbed a 56-54 lead with 6:28 left in the game.
(Zoe Borter scored 14 second half points. Entenza Design).
But that was the Gauchos final lead of the game as they fall to 8-6 in the Big West and 16-7 on the year.
The Highlanders outscored UCSB by 18 points from the three-point line and move to 6-8 in league and 8-16 overall.
Borter led UCSB with 20 points while Hannah Wickstrom poured in a game-high 27 points for the visitors.
Mike Klan
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (KEYT) – Sophomore Guzman Vasilic scored a career high 18 points and freshman Austin Goode enjoyed a collegiate best 17 Thursday evening as the Cal Poly men’s basketball program overcame a 13-point halftime deficit to hand previous Big West leader UC Irvine a 79-73 defeat inside Mott Athletics Center.
Sophomore Cayden Ward produced his second career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds for Cal Poly (10-16, 6-8), which utilized a 19-5 run out of halftime to overtake UC Irvine (16-9, 9-4) seven minutes into the second half.
The Mustangs trailed just twice down the stretch – by a single point each occasion – with three-pointers on four successive from possessions (Goode and sophomore Peter Bandelj alternating) establishing a 74-65 edge with two minutes to play.
Limiting UC Irvine to a 33.3 (10-for-30) percent second-half shooting mark, Cal Poly drained 14 three-pointers while outrebounding the anteaters, 51-40.
Bandelj, who sank four three-pointers alongside Vasilic, finished with 14 points for Cal Poly.
Facing just a 10-5 deficit after the initial six minutes and a 1-for-10 shooting start, Cal Poly received back-to-back three-pointers from Bandelj before Goode, sophomore Hamad Mousa and Vasilic all connected from the arc for a 20-12 advantage.
UC Irvine guard Derin Saran broke Cal Poly’s streak with a layup before freshman Troy Plumtree hit another three-pointer to place Cal Poly up 23-14 eight-and-a-half minutes before the break.
The Mustangs, however, were kept to just two field goals the remainder of the half as UC Irvine closed the period with a 28-6 run to lead heading into the locker room, 42-29.
Cal Poly Noteworthy (versus UC Irvine)
Up Next: Playing two its next three matchups at home, Cal Poly hosts rival UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 4 p.m.
With Thursday’s win, Cal Poly knocked UC Irvine out of a tie for first place in the Big West standings, handing Hawai’i (18-5, 10-3) top spot – by a half-game – over UC Santa Barbara (17-8, 10-4).
Cal Poly, meanwhile, moved one-and-a-half games clear of Long Beach State for the eighth and final spot in the March 11-14 Big West Championship.
With his first bucket of the evening nine minutes into action, Hamad Mousa surpassed 500 points for the season. The effort marks the 13th 500-point season in program history and the third in as many years after current Los Angeles Clippers guard Kobe Sanders (568, 2023-24) and former guard Owen Koonce (593, 2024-25).
Cal Poly’s 51 rebounds marked a season high.
Mike Klan
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KEYT) – The UC Santa Barbara men’s basketball team defeated UC Riverside 76-68 in a pivotal conference matchup at SRC Arena. With help from a UC Irvine loss, the Gauchos moved into second place in The Big West standings. After trailing by six at halftime, UC Santa Barbara surged with a 47-point second half, capitalizing on UCR’s 17 turnovers to secure the victory.
HOW IT HAPPENEDUC Santa Barbara opened the game with consistent effort in the paint, matching the Highlanders’ 16 points in that area. Despite a slow start, UCSB managed to capitalize on second-chance opportunities, outscoring UCR 12-4 in second-chance points. Colin Smith’s contributions, including a key three-pointer at 8:52, helped keep the Gauchos within two possessions of the Highlanders.
UC Santa Barbara encountered challenges in maintaining possession, resulting in eight turnovers in the first half. However, the team showed resilience, with CJ Shaw hitting a last-second 3-pointer to close the half. The first half ended with UC Santa Barbara trailing UCR 35-29.
UC Santa Barbara ignited the second half with a layup from Aidan Mahaney, quickly followed by a 3-pointer from Shaw, bringing the score to 35-34 still in favor of the Highlanders. UCSB maintained its momentum by tying the game at 37 with another 3-pointer by Mahaney, assisted by Hosana Kitenge. UCSB’s effective shooting from beyond the arc, including a crucial 3-pointer by Zion Sensley at 10:31, contributed to a scoring drive that put them ahead 52–47.
Santa Barbara extended its lead midway through the half with a combination of efficient shooting and defensive stops, highlighted by Marvin McGhee IV’s dunk at 3:10, bringing the score to 70–59. UCSB closed the half by capitalizing on free throws, with Mahaney converting consecutively at the line, sealing a 75–68 victory.
UP NEXTThe Gauchos will stay on the road as they travel to Cal Poly on Saturday, Feb. 14. UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly will meet at 4 p.m. inside the Mott Athletics Center. The game will be broadcast on Spectrum SportNet with live stats available.
(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics)
