IRVINE — The first time the UC Irvine men’s basketball team faced Long Beach State this season, the Anteaters trailed by 10 in the second half and needed overtime to secure a win.
UCI took control earlier in the rematch on its way to a comfortable 70-60 victory Saturday night at the Bren Events Center.
Four Anteaters scored in double-figures and they led by as many as 18 points in the second half.
UCI (25-5 overall, 15-3 Big West), still in contention for the regular-season title, clinched at least the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Big West Tournament with the win. The top two seeds receive double byes into the semifinals of the eight-team event in Henderson, Nevada.
UCI coach Russell Turner downplayed the significance of having byes in the conference tournament.
“The important thing is that you play well and you compete and find a way to win,” Turner said. “Having to do that on only two nights can be a trick if you think somehow that makes it easier. There’s nothing easy about trying to win a conference tournament.”
UCI remains one game behind UC San Diego (26-4, 16-2) in the standings with two games remaining for both teams. The Anteaters are two games ahead of third-place Cal State Northridge (21-8, 13-5) but own a tiebreaker over CSUN based on a better record (1-1) against UCSD.
Myles Che led UCI with 19 points with Justin Hohn and Jurian Dixon adding 14 and 10, respectively. Bent Leuchten had his third consecutive double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Devin Tillis had seven points, eight rebounds and five assists.
The Anteaters controlled the game inside, outrebounding Long Beach 33-25 and outscoring the visitors 36-22 in the paint.
“Long Beach dominated us on the boards in the first game and we got outplayed on the glass and in the paint,” Turner said. “I didn’t think that happened tonight. That was an appropriate response from my guys.”
Long Beach (7-23, 3-15), which was coming off a crushing loss to Cal State Bakersfield on an overtime buzzer-beater on Thursday, has lost 13 consecutive games.
LBSU shot 6 for 14 from 3-point range in the second half to keep UCI from running away, and Devin Askew was a bright spot, as he has been all season. The senior point guard had a game-high 25 points and shot 5 for 10 from behind the arc. It was his 11th game of 20 points or more this season and the second time he made five 3-pointers.
“I just love the fact that he’s figuring out how to play amidst the double-teams and he’s also finding ways to get others involved,” Long Beach coach Chris Acker said. “The fact that he’s still facilitating and getting others involved is the most impressive thing.”
UCI went on a 9-0 run over a 2-minute stretch in the first half when it made all four of its shot attempts and forced two turnovers to open a 24-13 lead.
The Anteaters shot just 2 for 12 from 3-point range in the first half but forced 10 turnovers. Twenty of UCI’s 32 first-half points came in the paint and the Anteaters led 32-23 at halftime.
UCI went 13 for 14 from the free-throw line in the second half to keep Long Beach at arm’s length. Che finished 8 for 10 from the foul line and Hohn made all four of his.
Kam Martin scored six of his 10 points in the second half for LBSU, and Austin Johnson grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. Long Beach played without a banged-up TJ Wainwright (13.3 ppg), with Jason Hart Jr. stepping in to contribute seven points and five assists in his second career start.
LBSU was already eliminated from qualifying for the conference tournament and will miss it for the first time since 2004. Long Beach won the tournament last March and is the first team to win it and fail to qualify for the event the following season.
LBSU has been more competitive than its record implies. Four of its last nine losses were by two points or fewer and the team has three overtime defeats during its 13-game losing streak.
“I’m excited about what we are building and what we are establishing,” said Acker, who is wrapping up his first season as LBSU’s head coach after spending the previous five seasons as an assistant at San Diego State. “If we can be in one- or two-point games, I know that we have a chance to win these games if we get more reps under our belt and get more comfortable with what we are trying to do.”
UCI wraps the regular season next week with road games against UC Davis on Thursday and UC Santa Barbara on Saturday.
Long Beach plays at UCSD on Thursday then hosts Cal Poly in its season finale next Saturday.
