Men’s Basketball: ‘Eaters claim crown
Big West Conference championships are neither new, nor old hat at UC Irvine. But thanks to British import Luke Nelson and fellow seniors Jaron Martin and Ioannis Dimakopoulos, they are definitely becoming a trend.
Nelson matched his season high with 29 points to lead the Anteaters to a dominant 79-49 triumph over visiting UC Davis in a regular-season-ending showdown between the conference co-leaders.
The victory gives UCI the outright crown and at least a share of three Big West titles in the last four seasons. The No. 1-seeded Anteaters, who have won a Big West regular-season or conference tournament title each of the last four years, will meet No. 8-seeded UC Riverside in the Big West Tournament quarterfinal on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Honda Center.
Nelson, who may have sewn up Big West Player of the Year honors, made a career-high seven three-pointers in 11 attempts. He was 10 for 17 from the field and finished with five rebounds, two steals and one assist.
UCI (19-13, 12-4 in conference), which came in ranked No. 7 in the nation in field-goal-percentage defense, smothered the Aggies (19-12, 11-5), who missed 17 of their first 19 field-goal tries and went just more than nine minutes without a field goal after their first basket.
During that drought, in which UC Davis had 20 consecutive empty possessions, UCI seized a 22-3 lead and was never seriously challenged.
“I’m impressed with my team’s effort,” said UCI Coach Russell Turner, whose voice was choked with emotion. “It was a big game and big moment. Being at your best when your best is needed is championship quality. Our guys were that today.”
Martin added 10 points, three assists and two steals, while Dimakopoulos had six points and four rebounds as UCI avenged a 74-65 loss at Davis on Jan. 28.
“We played with a lot of edge today, knowing they got us up there at Davis,” Martin said. “We knew we had to come out and set the tone and we did that early, and throughout the course of the game.”
UCI held a 41-23 halftime lead and upped the lead to 31 in the final two minutes.
Davis, which came in averaging 72.3 points per game, was held to its worst output of the season. The Aggies were 20 for 64 from the field (31.3%, their second-worst of the season), three for 15 from three-point range and a mere six for 22 from the foul line.
“They only had three assists for the game, which might be some kind of record,” Turner said.
Davis junior Chime Moneke, who came in averaging 15.1 points and shooting 54.3% from the field, was held scoreless for the first time all season. He missed all eight of his field-goal attempts in 35 minutes.
“The defensive effort we had today was outstanding,” said Turner, whose team posted six blocked shots. “We’ve worked very hard for a long time to have that performance and I’m proud of it.”
“We worked hard on team defense and it showed, especially in the first 10 minutes,” said Nelson, who did not play at UC Davis, one of three conference games he missed with a hamstring injury. “This was a championship game for us and we really worked our [rear ends] off.”
Turner said Nelson, playing in front of his family on senior night for the first time since 2015, did more than lead the way to the latest title.
“I feel like [Nelson, who upped his scoring average to 17.2 in 14 games, 22.7 the last six] made a statement about who should be the player of the year in the conference,” Turner said. “I’m happy for him, but I’m not at all surprised. He has had an incredibly difficult year with adversity and injury [he missed 18 games with two separate hamstring ailments]. He wanted badly to be in this position, and when he was, he performed at an outstanding level. I’m glad everyone got to see that when the light was shining brightest, he was his best self.”
Freshman Tommy Rutherford had eight points and 11 rebounds for the winners.
Big West Conference
UC Irvine 79, UC Davis 49
UCD – Moneke 0, Adenrele 6, Lemar 10, White 10, Graham 5, Schneider 16, Goode 2.
3-pt. goals – White 2, Graham 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
UCI – Smith 5, Galloway 0, Dimakopoulos 6, Nelson 29, Martin 10, Rutherford 8, Hazzard 5, Worku 4, Greene 4, Rivers 3, Traylor 3, Edgar Jr. 2.
3-pt. goals – Nelson 7, Martin 2, Smith 1, Rivers 1, Hazzard 1, Worku 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
Halftime – 41-23, UCI.
Twitter: @BarryFaulkner5
