IRVINE \u2014 The UC Irvine men\u2019s basketball team managed to claw out of a massive hole on Saturday night against visiting UC\u00a0San Diego, but the Anteaters couldn\u2019t hold on to a late lead in a 71-69 loss at the Bren Events Center.<\/p>\n
After trailing by as much as 17 points in the first half of the Big West Conference matchup, UCI twice briefly took the lead in the second half, but the Tritons wouldn\u2019t let the hosts build on their momentum.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to give [UC] San Diego credit,\u201d UCI coach Russell Turner said. \u201cThey came in here and just thoroughly outplayed us in the hustle points and the effort points and the desire plays. They just were quicker to loose balls, quicker to rebounds. They were hungrier than we were and that\u2019s been an issue for this team, repeatedly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The loss dropped the Anteaters to 18-10 overall and 11-5 in the Big West, tied for first place with Hawaii (19-7, 11-5) and Cal State Northridge (18-10, 11-5), which won its seventh straight game on Saturday and hosts UCI on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
The top two finishers in the regular season get a double-bye into the semifinals of next month\u2019s eight-team Big West Tournament in Henderson, Nevada.<\/p>\n
UCI took its final lead at 66-65 on a 3-pointer by Jurian Dixon in front of his own bench with 2:05 left.<\/p>\n
Hudson Mayes scored inside with 1:47 remaining to move the Tritons back in front. The Anteaters missed two opportunities to retake the lead before Mayes scored on a spin move in close with 13 seconds left for a three-point advantage.<\/p>\n
Dixon missed a potential tying 3-pointer with five seconds remaining before hitting a long one at the buzzer for the final two-point margin.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey scored their last several baskets at the rim. That\u2019s disappointing to me,\u201d Turner said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re best at, is protecting the rim. We didn\u2019t do that when it mattered the most.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dixon scored 22 points to lead UCI. Henry scored 15 off the bench and Kyle Evans finished with 12 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots for his fourth straight double-double.<\/p>\n
Mayes had 17 points and eight rebounds, Alex Chaikin scored 15 and Tom Beattie added 11 points for UCSD (19-9, 9-7), which lost to UCI, 61-59, in their first meeting on Jan. 24 in San Diego<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Anteaters got off to a slow start offensively for the second straight game and fell behind by 17 points in the first half before cutting the deficit to seven at halftime.<\/p>\n The Tritons sank five of their first seven 3-point attempts to take a 20-8 lead with 11:17 left in the first half.<\/p>\n