SANTA BARBARA — Tray Maddox Jr. had 15 points off the bench, including several critical baskets down the stretch, to lead the Cal State Fullerton men’s basketball team to a 67-58 victory over UC Santa Barbara on Thursday night at the Thunderdome.

Jalen Harris had 12 points for Fullerton (15-8 overall, 9-3 Big West Conference), while Vincent Lee had 11 points and five rebounds and E.J. Anosike had 10 points. Damari Milstead had eight points, while Tory San Antonio had six points and a team-best eight rebounds.

Amadou Sow had 11 points and seven rebounds for the Gauchos (11-10, 4-6). Miles Norris added 10 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots, and Calvin Wishart had 10 points.

Fullerton fell behind by 10 during a first-half drought but recovered in time to forge a tie by halftime. After trading early runs to start the second half, a Milstead 3-pointer gave the Titans the lead for good with 12:46 left.

Tray Maddox Jr. extended Fullerton’s lead to 10 points twice – the latter on a jumper with 7:45 left, but the Gauchos made one last push to reel the Titans back in.

Cole Anderson and Miles Norris helped UCSB get within three with four minutes left, then a Calvin Wishart layup cut the margin to 56-55 with 3:11 remaining.

Maddox answered with a deep 3-pointer, Sow followed with a layup, then after the teams traded misses, Maddox buried another deep 3-pointer to push the lead to 62-57 with 1:16 left. UCSB missed a pair of free throws with less than a minute left, then Anosike made a layup with 33 seconds left.

Fullerton closed it out at the free-throw line from there to sweep the regular-season series between the teams.

UP NEXT

Fullerton plays at Cal State Northridge on Saturday at 7 p.m.

The mans got ice in his veins @TraveonMaddoxJr x #TusksUp pic.twitter.com/Tsu5b2sVbc

— Titans Men’s Basketball (@FullertonMBB) February 18, 2022

Where’d the defender go @TraveonMaddoxJr? #TusksUp pic.twitter.com/a68tMmGzpu

— Titans Men’s Basketball (@FullertonMBB) February 18, 2022

.@DamariMilstead from the corner!#TusksUp pic.twitter.com/vuG78QVFGp

— Titans Men’s Basketball (@FullertonMBB) February 18, 2022

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