College Roundup: UCI earns share of Big West regular-season title
MEN’S BASKETBALL
UC Irvine 76, UC Riverside 66
RIVERSIDE — The visiting Anteaters earned a share of the Big West Conference regular-season title by winning the regular-season conference finale, combined with Hawaii’s 74-72 loss at Long Beach State on Saturday.
UCI (24-8, 13-3 in conference) will be the No. 2 seed and meet No. 7-seeded Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Honda Center.
Hawaii, which also finished 13-3 in conference, earned the No. 1 seed by sweeping its two games with UCI.
It’s the fourth regular-season conference title for UCI, its second in three seasons. Coach Russell Turner’s squad won its first Big West Tournament crown last season.
UCI finished Saturday’s game on a 24-4 run to prevail.
Senior Mike Best had 20 points, hitting nine of 13 field-goal attempts to lead the ‘Eaters on Saturday.
Junior Luke Nelson had 18 points. He made six of seven field-goal tries, including two of three form three-point range.
Senior Alex Young had 14 points, while junior Mamadou Ndiaye added nine points and 10 rebounds.
UCI shot 61% from the field (25 for 41) and held the Highlanders (14-18, 5-11) to 38.9% field-goal shooting.
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BASEBALL
Doubleheader
UC Irvine split a pair of nonconference games with Texas San Antonio on Saturday at Anteater Ballpark.
The Anteaters bounced back from a 12-2 loss in the opener to earn an 8-3 triumph and claim the three-game weekend series.
Keston Hiura was two for two and reached in all five plate appearances in Game 2, in which Cole Kreuter was two for four with two runs and one run batted in.
Griffin Mazur had one hit and two RBIs, while Mitchell Holland, Adam Alcantara and Parker Coss had one hit and one RBI apiece for UCI in the second game.
Cameron Bishop allowed two earned runs and three hits in six innings to improve to 2-1 for UCI.
In the opener, Holland and Alcantara had one hit and one RBI apiece.
Pitcher Shaun Vetrovec, a sophomore out of Newport Harbor High, allowed five earned runs in four innings to absorb his first loss in three decisions this season.
UCI (8-4) will play host to Cal State Bakersfield on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
UTSA is 7-4.
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Cypress 12, Orange Coast 5
The host Pirates dropped their Orange Empire Conference opener on Saturday.
Chris Prescott was three for four with two runs and one run batted in for OCC (9-7, 0-1 in conference), while Jake Scott was two for four with two RBIs.
Andrew Garcia was two for four with one run and one RBI and JT Navarro was two for four with one run.
OCC starter Michael Giacone allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits over 2 1/3 innings to take the loss and fall to 3-2.
OCC visits Cypress (11-2, 1-0) on Tuesday at 2 p.m.
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Doubleheader
Vanguard University swept two Golden State Athletic Conference home games on Saturday to sweep the three-game series with Hope International.
The No. 22-ranked Lions won Game 1, 7-5, and posted an 8-0 triumph in Game 2.
Trai Patrick went four for five with one run batted in and two runs in the opener, in which Jose Rojas and Sam Neufeld had one hit and two RBIs.
Matt Harris and Kody Wright had two hits and one RBI apiece in Game 1 for Vanguard.
Michael Ostrea earned the win in relief and Michael Jordan posted his fifth save.
No statistics were available for Game 2.
In the series opener on Friday, Rojas went three for three with two RBIs and two runs to key a 6-2 Lions win.
Sean Isaac allowed two runs and seven hits in seven innings to earn his fifth win in six decisions.
Vanguard is 16-5-1, 9-3 in conference.
HIU, in its first season of baseball, is 9-13-1, 4-8.
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MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
Orange Coast def. Irvine Valley
Gianluca Grasso had 11 kills to help lead the Pirates to a 25-14, 25-13, 25-20 Pacific Coast Conference win on Saturday.
Adrian Faitalia added seven kills and seven digs, blockers Matthew Ujkic and Will Donald combined for 11 kills, while Sean Keyes dished out a team-best 21 assists for OCC (9-1, 2-0 in conference).
IVC is 4-4, 1-1,
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WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
UC Davis 76, UC Irvine 70
Senior Raelyn Cheung-Sutton had a season-high 17 points and tied her career high with 12 assists in the Big West Conference regular-season finale on Saturday at UCI.
Senior Mokun Fajemisin had 16 points and nine rebounds and Mckenzie Piper added 11 points for UCI (4-26, 1-15 in conference).
The ‘Eaters tied for last in the nine-team conference and will need to win a coin flip with Cal State Fullerton to earn a berth in the eight-team conference tournament that begins Tuesday at UCI.
Cheung-Sutton was eight for eight from the foul line to finish 40 for 40 in Big West play. She has made her last 44 foul shots.
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WOMEN’S WATER POLO
UC Irvine 6, San Diego State 5
The host Anteaters prevailed in sudden-death overtime in the nonconference game Saturday.
Gabby Pierandozzu had three goals to pace No. 6-ranked UCI (11-7).
No. 18-ranked San Diego State is 6-9.
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SOFTBALL
Doubleheader
Host Vanguard swept the nonconference twin bill from Marymount of California on Saturday.
The Lions earned a 6-4 win in the opener, then prevailed, 8-0.
Taylor Wilson went two for four with two runs batted in, while Kimberlee Estes had two RBIs and went one for three for the Lions, now 15-8.
Vanguard’s Payton Ross was two for three in the opener, in which Alexandra Olvera earned the complete-game victory and is now 9-3.
In Game 2, Estes went two for two with a home run and three RBIs, and Lindsay Sullivan was two for two with two RBIs and one run for the winners.
Taylor Doyle earned the win by pitching four shutout innings and allowing only one hit.
Marymount is 3-7.