UCI denied CIT crown

NEW YORK, N.Y. — The long postseason road came to a disappointing end for the UC Irvine men’s basketball team Tuesday night.

The Anteaters, who set school records for wins (28), nonconference victories (15), road triumphs (13), and three national postseason tournament wins, faded down the stretch of a 73-67 loss to Columbia in the final of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament at the Lions’ Levien Gymnasium.

A 9-2 run put UCI (28-10) up, 53-46, with 8:42 left, but the Lions (25-10), who set a program record for victories and became only the second Ivy League school to win a national postseason tournament, answered with a 12-0 spurt over just more than four minutes that gave them the lead for good.

Forward Mike Best, one of five UCI seniors playing their final collegiate game, had 13 of his team-best 17 points after halftime, 12 of which came in the first nine minutes of the second half. But Best, perhaps displaying the team-wide fatigue from more than 12,000 miles of travel in UCI’s four tournament road games, missed five of his final eight foul shots.

UCI, which did not attempt a free throw in the first half, finished nine for 16 from the line (56.2%), while Columbia netted 21 of 27 foul shots (77.8%), including 10 of 13 in the last 2:28 to prevail.

After UCI cut the deficit to 58-57 with 2:48 left, the Lions countered with two free throws and a three-pointer by All-Ivy senior Maodo Lo to create a six-point edge with 1:40 left.

After 7-foot-6 UCI junior center Mamadou Ndiaye missed the front end of a one-and-one situation on the ensuing possession, UCI senior Dominique Dunning fouled on the rebound and his verbal objection to the call drew a technical foul.

Columbia netted two foul shots to push the lead to eight, and UCI never got closer than four.

Ndiaye, around whom speculation has swirled that he may forego his senior season to enter the NBA draft, had 14 points on seven-for-eight shooting from the field. He added eight rebounds.

UCI junior guard Luke Nelson, like Ndiaye a first-team All-Big West Conference performer, had 11 of his 13 points in the opening 20 minutes. Nelson made just one of his final eight field-goal tries, however, to finish five for 15 from the field, and three of nine from three-point range.

UCI senior point guard Alex Young had 10 points, six assists and six rebounds. The school’s career assist leader (576) became the first player in UCI history to amass at least 1,000 points (1,324), 500 rebounds (504) and 500 assists in his career.

Young also set a program record by playing in 139 games.

Senior Aaron Wright gave the Big West regular-season co-champions a big boost in 26 minutes off the bench. He was two for three from the field, one for one from threedom and four for four from the foul line to produce nine points. Wright also added five assists, four rebounds and three steals, with everything but one assist coming after halftime.

UCI junior reserve guard Jaron Martin, who had averaged 14 points in his previous four games, was zero for six from the field and was held scoreless for only the fifth time all season.

Lo made just two of his first 11 field-goal tries, but sank his last two to finish with 13 points for the winners, for whom senior Grant Mullins had a game-high 20 points.

Mullins made six of seven field-goal tries, including three of four from beyond the arc.

Luke Petrasek, a 6-10 junior, added 16 points and eight rebounds for the Lions, for whom 6-8 junior reserve Jeff Coby chipped in 14 points and 10 boards.

Both teams had 17 turnovers, but the Lions posted a 38-34 advantage on the glass.

Columbia, which earned all four of its tournament wins at home, shot 40% from the field (22 for 55) and 28.6% from threedom (eight for 28), but the free-throw discrepancy proved key.

— Barry Faulkner, reporting from Fountain Valley

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CIT Final

Columbia 73, UC Irvine 67

UCI – Best 17, Ndiaye 14, Nelson 13, Young 10, Dunning 0, Wright 9, Dimakopoulos 2, Galloway 2.

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

Fouled out – Best.

Technicals – Dunning 1.

Col – Petrasek 16, Rosenberg 3, Mullins 20, Lo 13, Cohen 2, Coby 14, Jackson 3, Meisner 2.

3-pt. goals – Mullins 3, Lo 2, Petrasek 2, Jackson 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

Halftime – 31-26, Col.