Late Burst Powers UC Irvine Past Utah State

Lloyd Mumford scored 18 points and DeForrest Boyer added 17 to lead UC Irvine to a 78-71 Big West victory over Utah State on Monday night.

Boyer scored six points and Mumford four in the final 2:03 as the Anteaters (5-7, 2-2) finished the game with a 10-2 run.

Eric Franson scored 21 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead the Aggies (6-8, 3-3) before fouling out with one second left. Junsie Cotten and Jarobi Kemp added 12 points each.

Utah State’s leading scorer, Nathan Wickizer, sat out because of a sprained right ankle suffered Saturday against Cal State Fullerton.

Irvine went on a 10-0 run to take a 12-4 lead with 16:26 left in the first half. Mumford scored five points in the run. The Anteaters led at halftime, 36-30.

Todd Whitehead capped a 9-4 run for Irvine with a three-pointer with 11:42 left in the game to make the score 56-47.

The Aggies went on a 7-0 run to take its only lead of the second half, 69-68, on two free throws by Kemp with 2:15 to play.

The Aggies did not score again until Kemp made two free throws with nine seconds left.

Even though Irvine’s press and man-to-man defense caused only five turnovers, Coach Rod Baker was still pleased.

“We just want the game to be played at a certain rate and we got that tonight,” Baker said. “If we get a turnover, fine, but that’s not the issue. The issue is getting the game to be played a certain way.”