Juniors James Nunnally and Orlando Johnson picked up where they left off last season as they helped UC Santa Barbara overcome a sluggish first half en route to a 68-54 exhibition win over The Master's College on Friday night at the Thunderdome.
The Gauchos were up just 30-28 at the half, but used a 22-6 run over the first nine minutes of the second half to take a commanding 52-34 advantage.
Nunnally finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds and four assists while Johnson had 21 points, five rebounds and four assists. Nunnally scored 16 of his points and collected seven of his rebounds in 12 second half minutes.
Johnson, the Big West Player of the Year in 2009-10, and Nunnally are both preseason All-Big West choices. On Friday night, they combined for 43 of UCSB's 68 points.
"Those two are so dynamic," said UCSB head coach Bob Williams. "They have such a good feel for each other and they really feed off of each other."
The Nunnally-Johnson duo teamed-up for a trio of lob dunks that electrified the crowd of just over 2,000. Johnson assisted on two of the dunks.
"If they (defenders) are paying a lot of attention to Orlando then it opens things up for me," said Nunnally. "It works the other way round too, but we work really well together."
Center Greg Somogyi added eight points, four rebounds and two blocked shots. Jon Pastorek had nine rebounds while Lucas Devenny added seven.
UCSB will open the regular season on Friday, Nov. 12 when it travels to Eugene, Ore., for the BTI Invitational. The Gauchos play the University of Denver in the first round of the tournament with tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
The Gauchos first regular season home game is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 20 at 7:00 p.m. when they play Fresno State in the Thunderdome.
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