Overtime Pays Off for Santa Barbara

Chris Devine scored a career-high 25 points, including the tying basket to force overtime and seven free throws in the extra period, to lead UC Santa Barbara to an 82-76 victory over host Cal State Northridge in the regular-season finale for the teams.

Devine, who had a career-best 14 rebounds, tied the score, 64-64, with 11.9 seconds to play on a put-back from two feet.

Devine’s basket finished a 28-10 run over the last 11 minutes 3 seconds for the Gauchos (14-13, 6-8 Big West Conference), who scored 13 of their 18 overtime points at the free-throw line.

Santa Barbara earned the fifth seeding in the conference tournament, which starts Wednesday at the Anaheim Convention Center. Northridge (11-16, 4-10) is seeded seventh.

Long Beach State 93, UC Irvine 73 -- Aaron Nixon scored 24 points to help the 49ers overcome an early 21-point deficit at Irvine in the regular-season finale for the teams.

Ross Schrader had 25 points for Irvine (16-12, 10-4 Big West), which already had secured second place and a bye through the first two rounds of the conference tournament.

Long Beach State (16-11, 9-5) had locked up third place and a first-round bye.

The 49ers extended their winning streak to five games.

UC Riverside 94, UC Davis 87 -- Larry Cunningham had a career-high 33 points, and Steve Williams had career bests of 30 points and 15 rebounds to help lift the host Highlanders in overtime.

Williams, a senior playing in his last home game, made his five three-point shots. Riverside rallied from a 14-point deficit.

Ricky Porter tied the score, 80-80, on a driving layup with 18 seconds left. Porter, who scored 19 points, made consecutive three-pointers with slightly more than a minute left to bring the Highlanders to within two points.

In overtime, Davis (8-20) took an 84-82 lead on a dunk by Michael Boone, but Cunningham scored seven points in the period.

Kyle Brucculeri led the Aggies with 26 points.