With Cal State Northridge’s loss at Pacific, Long Beach State was 6.8 seconds from a share of the Big West Conference title and the No. 1 seed in the Big West Tournament on Saturday.
But UC Santa Barbara’s James Nunnally hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Gauchos the 76-75 win and left LBSU (15-14, 10-6 Big West) as the No. 2 seed.
Stephan Gilling led all scorers with 23 points (going 6-of-11 from 3-point range) while Donovan Morris had 17 and T.J. Robinson scored 16, making all seven of his field goal attempts.
On Thursday night, the ‘Niners upended Cal Poly, 63-60.
Morris was the high-man for LBSU with another 17-point effort while Robinson added 13 and Gilling and Larry Anderson totaled 10.
Nine of LBSU’s last 10 conference games were decided by six points or less.
They have alternated wins and losses for their last 11 games — a trend they would like to break this weekend — as they need two wins to clinch the Big West and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Long Beach plays in the semifinals of the Big West Tournament Friday night at the Anaheim Convention Center against an opponent yet to be determined . The game will tip-off 30 minutes after the end of the first game, which starts at 5:30 p.m.
