Men’s Basketball: ‘Eaters rally past 49ers

LONG BEACH — In winning the first installment of the Black and Blue rivalry series with Long Beach State, the UC Irvine men’s basketball team was bruised, yet unbeaten Wednesday.

The Anteaters, ranked No. 14 in the CollegeInsider.com mid-major poll, maintained their share of the Big West Conference lead by overcoming a 13-point first-half deficit to claim a 58-54 triumph that surely asserts their resolve.

A layup by Alex Taylor gave UCI its first lead since 4-2 with 9:18 left and the ‘Eaters (14-5, 3-0 in conference to match fellow leader Hawaii) continued to mount stops, clutch buckets and adequate free-throw shooting to pull away down the stretch.

Senior Mike Best, who had had a difficult night the first 37-plus minutes, including a technical foul for taunting and a one-for-10 shooting performance to that point, drilled a 16-foot jumper with 2:29 left to break a 49-49 deadlock.

And UCI never trailed again.

The Anteaters made seven of 10 foul shots in the final 1:08, including two by junior guard Luke Nelson with seven ticks remaining, to cement their fourth straight victory, their seventh in its last eight games.

Mamadou Ndiaye, a 7-foot-6 senior center, had 13 points and three blocked shots to lead the winners, for whom Nelson and junior reserve guard Jaron Martin had 11 points apiece.

Martin, who missed all five of his first-half field-goal attempts, including both three-point tries, made two of three second-half three-pointers and hit three of four foul shots, including two with 32 seconds left.

Long Beach State (8-10, 2-1) was four for eight from threedom at one point in the first half, but then missed 13 of its next 14 as the UCI defense hunkered down to allow the comeback.

The 49ers went more than five minutes without a field goal midway through the second half and had just one bucket in a span of nearly 12 minutes, allowing UCI to seize a 54-49 cushion that it held until 27 seconds remained.

“I think our championship experience really helped us tonight,” UCI Coach Russell Turner said. “We didn’t have a really good start and we didn’t play well on offense the first half. We settled down in the second half and played a little bit better. But our defense is what defines us and we feel like we can win difficult games because we have confidence in our ability to defend.”

UCI collected 10 steals to account for more than half of the 49ers’ 19 turnovers, the last of which coming when Noah Blackwell dribbled the ball on the baseline with nine seconds left and the hosts trailing by two.

Alex Young missed two foul shots with 15 seconds left, after Long Beach State senior star Nick Faust, a transfer from Maryland, connected on a three-pointer with 19 seconds remaining to pull the 49ers within 56-54.

Faust, who was three for six from three-point range in the first half, finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds to lead the hosts, who earned a 49-42 advantage on the glass.

Best led the winners with six rebounds, while Young collected eight assists, seven points and five steals. Young, who came in leading the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio, did not have a turnover in 32 minutes.

Long Beach State shot 24.6% for the game (14 for 57, including just six for 26 after intermission). It was six for 26 from three-point range (23.1%).

UCI made 11 of 29 field-goal tries after halftime to finish at 32.2%. The ‘Eaters were four for 10 from threedom in the final 20 minutes to wind up five for 19 (26.3%).

UCI had just three second-half turnovers to finish with 12.

The Anteaters missed their first six three-point tries and were five for 23 from the field, until Nelson netted the team’s first three-pointer with 3:32 left in the half to close to within 25-15.

Both teams shot woefully in the opening 20 minutes (26.7% for UCI and 28.6% for the hosts), and Long Beach had 11 of 20 first-half turnovers.

Ndiaye was three for five from the field in the opening half, with three dunks. Ndiaye’s eight first-half points were one more than the other four UCI starters combined.

UCI which had trailed for only 1:01 combined in its first two conference victories, and had never been behind by more than two points, found itself down, 25-12, with 4:18 left in the opening half, before cutting the deficit to 29-21 at intermission.

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Big West Conference

UC Irvine 58, Long Beach State 54

UCI – Best 4, Dunning 4, Ndiaye 13, Nelson 11, Young 7, Martin 11, Dimakopoulos 6, Galloway 2.

3-pt. goals – Nelson 2, Martin 2, Young 1.

Fouled out – Wright.

Technicals – Best 1.

LBSU – Levin 9, Riggins 0, Faust 19, Bibbins 9, Spencer 4, Blackwell 5, Hammonds 5, Jones 2, Prince 1.

3-pt. goals – Faust 3, Blackwell 1, Bibbins 1, Hammonds 1.

Fouled out – Bibbins.

Technicals – None.

Halftime – 29-21, LBSU.