POCATELLO — A late scoring drought, missed free throws and a final unfortunate bounce spoiled a gutsy effort by Idaho State.

UC Santa Barbara closed the second half on an 8-0 run, scored the first six points of overtime and iced the game on a 3-pointer that hit the rim four times before going in, beating the Bengals 74-68 in overtime Monday at Reed Gym.

"It was a tough game. It was right there," ISU senior forward Chier Maker said. "Down the stretch, we made few mistakes. That's what lost us the game."

PHOTOS: ISU-UC Santa Barbara men's basketball

The Bengals (3-5) led for most of the second half, including 63-55 with 1 minute, 35 seconds remaining. Maker capped a 7-0 run earlier in the half with a 3 to tie it at 36-all, and Tarik Cool's trey 22 seconds later gave the Bengals their first lead of the night and sparked a 5-0 spurt.

Santa Barbara (7-4) didn't regain the lead until overtime. A Devearl Ramsey 3 and a pair of Jaquori McLaughin free throws cut ISU's lead to 63-60 with under a minute to play.

Coreyoun Rushin had a chance to re-extend ISU's lead from the free-throw line with 34.5 seconds remaining. But the sophomore, who entered the game 2 for 8 on free throws this season, missed both, keeping the Gauchos alive.

Matt Freeman's 3 tied the game with 27.7 seconds to go, and Cool missed a deep 3 ahead of the buzzer, prompting overtime.

Santa Barbara extended its run in to 14-0 in OT, leading 69-63 by the 2:13 mark. Cool ended ISU’s drought with a 3 to make it 69-66 with 1:21 on the clock, and sunk a midrange 2 to keep the gap at three, 71-68, with 39.3 seconds to go.

Both Jaxon Edelmayer and Cool nearly had steals on ISU’s next defensive possession, but Ramsey corralled the tipped ball and buried a 3 that bounced on the rim and coaxed its way through the net to ice it.

The dramatics ended a somber but exciting doubleheader of basketball at Reed Gym. ISU's women fell by the same score earlier in the day against Cal Baptist.

"As good as we payed at times, they probably deserved to win the game," Bengals coach Ryan Looney said.

The Gauchos beat Idaho State despite leading scorer Amadou Sow (14.9 points per game) going scoreless in the first half and finishing with seven points in 25 minutes. Ramsey, who came in averaging 6.6 ppg, scored a season-high 20 points on 4-of-6 shooting from 3. He entered the game shooting 16.7% from downtown this season.

Idaho State wanted to funnel the ball away from the 6-foot-9 Sow in the post and into the hands of Ramsey and Brandon Cyrus, who also came in at 16.7% on 3-pointers.

ISU's plan was successful, but also backfired. Cyrus boosted his averages by going 2 for 5 from the arc for nine points.

"It's going to make me sick when I go home tonight," Looney said. "To their credit, those guys made six 3s tonight. Normally they don't do that."

Santa Barbara made 9 of 20 3-pointers (45%), the most by any Bengals opponent. ISU entered the game leading Division I in 3-point defense.

UCSB also owned a 42-32 rebounding edge and pulled down 14 offensive boards. Seventeen ISU turnovers led to 18 points for the Gauchos, and the Bengals went 11 of 22 from the foul line.

Idaho State has been outrebounded two games in a row after winning the rebounding margin in its first six games of the season.

"We continue, as a staff, to preach rebounding every single day, and you really need the right habits," Looney said. "If we want to compete in a game like this and give ourselves a chance to win, defensively, we've got to block out every single defensive possession. The stats wouldn't indicate that we did that."

ISU trailed 31-25 at halftime, but started the second half hot, going 6 of 7 from the floor to take a 39-38 lead on Cool's 3-pointer. The Bengals shot 54.2% in the frame, led by 12 points apiece from Cool and Maker.

Both players started slow Monday, combining to shoot 3 of 10 before halftime. Both made big shots down the stretch, teaming to score Idaho State's final 15 points.

Cool finished with 21 points. Maker had 17.

"I've got to keep shooting. It doesn't matter if I go 0 for 10, the next shot I take is a big one," Maker said. "That's what I did, just have confidence in myself every shot."

Malik Porter added 11 points and four blocks, and Austin Smellie scored 10 points off the bench for the Bengals. McLaughlin added 18 for UCSB.

Had the Bengals hung on, they'd have two quality nonconference wins. UCSB was voted second in the Big West Conference preseason media poll and had won five games in a row before falling to Southern Utah on Saturday.

Instead, ISU suffered its first late-game collapse and has to regroup for its nonconference finale.

"I was proud of all of our guys. They really showed some fight, some resilience," Cool said. "Unfortunately, a few things didn't go our way, but it's things we can clean up in preparation for one more nonconference game."

Up next:

Idaho State plays its final nonconference game Dec. 21 at Pacific.

UC SANTA BARBARA 74, IDAHO STATE 68 (OT)

UCSB 31 32 11 — 74

ISU 25 38 5 — 68

UCSB — Freeman 7, Sow 7, McLaughlin 18, Ramsey 20, Cyrus 9, Toure 4, Idehen 9.

ISU — Porter 11, Maker 17, Cool 21, Stutzman 5, Smellie 10, Udengwu 4.