Aggie men rally from 18 down to stop UC Santa Barbara in Big West basketball action

Cooper leads the way as UC Davis takes a critical road win from the Gauchos

ISLA VISTA - Trailing 22-4 on the road with the game barely five minutes old, some college basketball teams might have quickly found the team bus and headed for home.

Not UC Davis.

The Aggie men rallied from that 18-point deficit to stun UC Santa Barbara, 93-86, before a disappointed crowd of 2,091 Thursday night in the Thunderdome.

“The way we started and the way we were shooting, we had a lot of reasons to just pack it in,” said Aggie head coach Jim Les.

“But we stayed with it. This was a heck of a resilient win on the road. It became a shootout and I don’t always like those, but it’s nice when you can win one of those.”

The much-needed victory, on the heels of a heartbreaking two-point loss last Saturday to Cal State Bakersfield, evens UCD at 2-2 in Big West play and moves them to 9-6 overall. UCSB is 2-3 and 9-7.