Hooping It Up

There was a definite “win-win” feeling on both sides of the Thunderdome after the UCSB Gauchos needed a big push in the last 15 minutes to top Westmont College by a score of 82-61 in a men’s basketball game last Friday night.

T.J. Lipold made a triumphant, fist-pumping gesture to the Westmont fans when his three-point basket early in the second half gave the Warriors a 39-33 lead. By then, the visitors from the small college in the Montecito hills had proved they were a worthy opponent of the big-time Gauchos, even if they did not understand the imposition of time-outs for no apparent reason.

“I asked the ref who called time-out,” said Jordan Sachs. “He said it was the media. I didn’t know what that meant.” What it meant was that the NCAA prescribes time-outs every four minutes in Division 1 games to ensure that sponsors get guaranteed radio and TV slots. Westmont plays all its other games in lower divisions and the NAIA, where there is a quaint notion that time-outs are called by the participating teams for tactical reasons.