2025’s Big West Championship continued with a tightly contested 78-72 match between No. 4 Cal State Northridge (22-10, 14-6) and No. 5 UC Santa Barbara (21-12, 11-9) at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nev. on March 13. Santa Barbara came out victorious and is slated to face No. 1 UC San Diego on March 14.
Both teams came up empty on their first possessions, but Santa Barbara sophomore guard Jason Fontenet II kicked off the scoring with a freethrow after he got downhill on Northridge junior guard/forward Scotty Washington. Fontenet II got back into the box score with a transition assist to redshirt sophomore forward Colin Smith for an easy lay-in and layup for himself after a strong drive with his left hand.
After an initial 2 ½-minute scoring drought, CSUN finally got on the board with a floater by senior forward Keonte Jones. The two schools traded threes back-to-back, coming from UCSB graduate guard Stephan Swenson and CSUN senior guard PJ Fuller II. After a timeout, Swenson got back on the board with two threes — one from the right wing and one from the top of the key.
Despite the flurry from the Gauchos, Northridge stayed in the fight with one paint bucket to keep the score within two possessions, 14-9. Both squads got trips to the free-throw line with Fontenet II hitting a pair and CSUN senior forward Mahmoud Fofana picking up his first points of the night.
CSUN got a break after Swenson threw an errant pass, allowing Jones to get an easy bucket in transition on the other end. The Matadors continued their success in transition with another shooting foul drawn by Fofana before a media timeout stopped play momentarily — Fofana then hit another pair to bring the score to 16-15 in favor of UCSB. CSUN then retook the lead after a grenade three went down for Jones from a baseline inbound pass.
Northridge’s lead was short-lived as Santa Barbara senior guard Cole Anderson drained two right-wing threes. Anderson led the Gauchos’ rotation players in three-point percentage throughout 2025, shooting a blistering 48.4% from deep on the year coming into the game.
A Santa Barbara alley-oop brought the building to life and pushed the Gaucho lead to six, their largest of the night to that point. Despite the push, CSUN battled back the same way they did previously in the half — going deep in the paint and getting a pair of easy buckets to keep the UCSB lead at two.
Santa Barbara got back to the line after a timeout, with graduate guard Deuce Turner recording his first points of the evening after a shooting foul. UCSB continued creating easy opportunities, this time with junior guard Ben Shtolzberg getting a deuce at the rim.
CSUN met the paint bucket with their own, as Jones got to the rim against Santa Barbara once more. The restricted area onslaught for both teams continued when senior forward Kenny Pohto got deep for an and-one to push the Gaucho lead back to five.
A short scoring drought broke up what had been a consistent onslaught of points by both sides, but not before Pohto got back to the line off of the bonus and hit a pair of freethrows to bring the score to 33-26. Swenson continued his big half, getting his 10th and 11th points courtesy of a steal-and-score left-handed layup.
Santa Barbara’s bench ignited after a shot clock violation forced by the Gauchos returned the ball to them with a minute left in the first half. However, a UCSB airball on the other end quelled their momentum and Jones got downhill again for a hanging finish over the Gauchos — his own 10th and 11th points of the night.
Santa Barbara ended the half on a scoring drought but managed to keep their lead. The Gauchos led 35-28 with only 20 minutes to go to secure a berth against UC San Diego in the Big West Semifinals.
The second half began the same as the first for the Gauchos — Fontenet II got two feet in the paint and scored. On the other end, Fuller II responded with his own layup for Northridge, keeping the deficit at seven for the Matadors. Fontenet II continued his downhill dominance, getting out on the break and drawing another pair of freethrows, connecting on both.
Jones got on the board for the first time in the half on Santa Barbara’s side of the court, hitting a tough righty layup. Swenson pushed the lead to double digits for the Gauchos soon after, hitting a three from the top of the key to bring the score to 42-32 in favor of UCSB.
A Washington three ended some of the Santa Barbara momentum, but the fire soon reignited after the Gauchos’ three-point specialist Anderson hit another deep ball to push the UCSB lead back to 11.
The Gauchos went on a brief dry spell after a few timeouts by each team and official reviews stopped play. This gave way to multiple CSUN buckets, including a Fofana and-one that lit up the Matador bench. Northridge then got the lead down to four after a layup by junior forward/center Grady Lewis.
Santa Barbara finally got back on the board courtesy of a three by Smith. Swenson followed shortly after with another triple of his own — his sixth of the night. The Belgium native soon got another layup to go, bringing his overall total to 22.
Anderson reignited after an official review for his fourth three of the game, giving UCSB yet another double-digit lead. A four-point play completed by Anderson minutes later proved to be beneficial for the UC Santa Barbara win, with UCSB staving off a late CSUN run to close out the Matadors 78-72.
The game ended with a controversial call as Fofana was called for an illegal screen just as Washington put in what would have been a game-tying three. After a missed freethrow by Smith, UCSB forced a turnover in transition on Fuller II — the dagger for CSUN.
Swenson led all scorers with 25 points, a career-high.
UC Santa Barbara head coach Joe Pasternack spoke about Swenson’s impact on the victory.
“When you’re in March you can’t be tired,” Pasternack said in the postgame presser. “Any time in March you have to be able to survive and stay poised on all runs.”
UCSB held off multiple pushes by CSUN, never relenting the lead in the second half despite multiple injuries and an inconsistent shot diet in prior games from stars of the night, such as Anderson.
“At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is March,” Pasternack said.
Santa Barbara will look to extend their March run against No. 1 UC San Diego on March 14.
Jacob Ramos is a 2024-2025 Managing Editor. He can be reached at jacobtr@uci.edu.