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Arizona 86, Cal Santa Barbara 81

Posted: Friday March 15, 2002 01:31 AM

Cal Santa Barbara Related Info: Team Page Conference Page Message Boards: • Big West

Arizona Related Info: Team Page Conference Page City Page: • Tucson Message Boards: • Arizona • Pac-10

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (Ticker) -- Arizona fans may have been suffering flashbacks to the early 1990s, when their team made a habit of losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The third-seeded Wildcats barely avoided another early exit, withstanding a deadly 3-point assault to get past gritty No. 14 seed Santa Barbara, 86-81, in a West Region first round game.

Arizona (23-9) will face surprising Wyoming in a second-round contest Saturday. The Cowboys upset sixth-seeded Gonzaga earlier at "The Pit." "It's a matter of survival," Arizona coach Lute Olson said. "We survived one. Now we got another one-game season. We'll see if we can make it two." Arizona's victory capped a wild day at the University of New Mexico that saw two lower seeds win and Ohio State barely get past Davidson. In addition to Wyoming's win over No. 6 seed Gonzaga, Missouri ousted No. 5 seed Miami.

Arizona was aware of the earlier games, but forward Luke Walton admitted the Wildcats may have taken the Gauchos lightly.

"We knew we couldn't look past Santa Barbara," he said. "We didn't do a very good job of that. We got a feel for it (the NCAA Tournament). I'm just glad we got one under our belts and hopefully we'll do a lot better on Saturday." The undermanned Gauchos (20-11) stayed in the game by making 16-of-27 3-pointers. Mark Hull, who was playing with a broken nose and refused to wear a protective mask, put on a spectacular display, hitting a career-high eight 3-pointers and scoring 32 points. He was 8-of-13 from the field and 8-of-11 from beyond the arc.

Santa Barbara sliced an 11-point deficit to 78-76 on Nick Jones' driving layup with 1:44 left. After Jason Gardner, who scored 28 points, hit two throws with 1:35 remaining, the Gauchos had a chance to close within one, but Hull missed a 3-pointer.

Rick Anderson's follow shot made it 82-76 with 47 seconds to go, but freshman Channing Frye gave Santa Barbara a chance by missing a pair from the line with 27 seconds left. Chrismen Oliver's 3-pointer made it 84-81 with 17 seconds left.

After Arizona freshman Salim Stoudamire converted a pair from the line, Mike Vukovich's follow shot again made it a three-point game with 5.4 seconds left. Stoudamire finally put away the contest by making two more free throws with 4.3 seconds remaining.

"They're a perimeter team and they kept shooting 'em," Gardner said.

Arizona was sluggish in the first half, shooting just 32 percent (9-of-28) from the field and committing nine turnovers. The Gauchos had trouble getting the ball inside, but they were on fire from beyond the arc, making 9-of-12 3-pointers in the first half.

Hull was unstoppable, making all six of his 3-point attempts in the period, including five in the final seven minutes.

"If we're gonna survive, we've got to be a good team in the first five minutes and we were a horrendously bad team in the first five minutes," Olson said.

Hull's sixth 3-pointer gave Santa Barbara a 35-30 lead before Gardner hit two foul shots to make it 35-32 at halftime.

The Wildcats did a much better in the second half of pounding the ball inside and taking advantage of their superiority in the paint. They executed better on offense, but could not shake the Gauchos.

Arizona steadily stretched the lead, opening a 71-60 advantage on Gardner's two free throws with 7:21 left. With the Gauchos trailing 73-62, Hull's two free throws with 5:52 left started a 14-5 spurt for Santa Barbara.

Olson was asked if he was concerned about his team allowing 16 3-pointers. He said he wasn't.

"If they hit 16-of-27 3-pointers, you're gonna have problems," he said. "I'm not that worried about our defense. Our defense has been coming along. If you take Hull out of the mix. ... As long as you score more points than they do, you're usually OK." All five starters scored in double figures for the Wildcats, who finished at 44 percent (22-of-50) and committed only two turnovers in the second half. Anderson scored 19 points, Frye 16, Stoudamire 12 and Walton 11.

Mike Vukovich scored 14 points and Jones chipped in with 11 for the Gauchos, who received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. When they made their last appearance in 1990, the Gauchos received an at-large invitation.