SAN JOSE — Derin Saran and Harrison Carrington powered UC Irvine to a 72-63 victory over San Jose State on Sunday afternoon in the Anteaters’ final game before their Big West Conference opener.
Saran had 24 points on 10-for-18 shooting to go with a team-high seven rebounds and three assists. Carrington came off the bench to score 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting while grabbing six rebounds.
The Anteaters (5-4) shot 49.1% from the field (30 for 61) overall, their best showing against a Division I opponent so far this season. They outscored the Spartans 50-26 in the paint and held a 24-6 advantage in fast-break points.
UCI, which came into the game ranked sixth in the nation in field goal percentage defense, held the Spartans to 31.4% (22 for 70).
“I was really pleased with the great road kill from our guys,” UCI coach Russell Turner said. “I thought we set the tone with our team defensive commitment. It was great to see Harrsion Carrington with a big game, Tama Isaac with a dominate defensive performance and Derin (Saran) leading us both in scoring and rebounding.
“We showed some resolve with this performance. None of us feels good about being 5-4, but we feel better being 5-4 than we would 4-5. We needed to perform better than we did in our first road outing (a 79-72 loss to Utah Valley), so I thought the guys really stepped up to the challenge and I’m pleased with that.”
Elijah Chol added nine points and four rebounds, Kyle Evans had seven points, six rebounds and two blocked shots, Jurian Dixon contributed seven points and four assists and Isaac led the passing effort with five assists and six rebounds.
“We did a good job of moving the ball today,” Carrington said. “We took care of the ball for the most part and moved it side to side. If we moved the ball well, we were going to break down the defense and I think that’s what we did well tonight.”
Ben Roseborough had 12 points to lead the Spartans (3-5), who shot 9 for 24 from 3-point range to offset some of UCI’s dominance inside. Yaphet Moundi added 10 points and nine rebounds, while Sadraque NgaNga also had 10 points to go with eight rebounds.
UCI held a 27-20 lead midway through the first half when San Jose used a 7-1 surge to cut the margin to one point. Saran scored six points as UCI answered with an 8-0 run for a 36-27 lead with just under three minutes left, but San Jose cut into the margin again and got a tip-in at the halftime buzzer to cut the Anteaters’ lead to 36-34.
Both offenses started strong in the second half, and Saran kept carving up the San Jose State defense, converting a layup before finding Chol for an easy layup for a 50-44 lead. The Anteaters used a 7-0 run go open a double-digit lead at 61-49 with 8:59 remaining.
The Spartans put together a 7-0 run of their own to get within five before Saran silenced the home crowd with a 3-pointer from the right wing. He followed that with a layup and Dixon hit a 3-pointer to build the lead back to 11 at 69-58 with 4:25 left.
The Anteaters, who led for nearly 36 minutes, held SJSU without a field goal for 4:23 during the closing minutes to help close out the win.
UP NEXT
UC Irvine opens Big West Conference play against UC Riverside on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Bren Events Center.