The UC Irvine Men’s Basketball team (7-7, 2-3) earned a much needed victory against CSU Bakersfield (6-7,1-4) at the Bren Events Center on Thursday, Jan. 27.
Junior forward Austin Johnson led the Anteaters with 11 points, a team-high five rebounds and four blocks in 28 minutes of action. At the start of the first quarter, Johnson scored UCI’s first seven points of the game, allowing the Anteaters to jump out to an early 7-2 lead.
UCI then obtained their biggest advantage of the night with a 12-4 lead, but the Roadrunners clawed their way back after a 7-2 run. The Roadrunners pulled ahead, 17-16, with 10:47 left in the first half.
UCI answered with a three-pointer by sophomore guard Andre Henry, assisted by redshirt junior forward JC Butler, to put UCI ahead 26-20 with 7:28 left in the first half. But the Roadrunners went on to score six unanswered points, tying the score at 26 with around three minutes remaining in the half.
A jumper by redshirt senior forward Collin Welp put the Anteaters ahead 28-26, but CSUB hit a contested jumper with 26 seconds left in the half, tying the score 28-28 going into the break.
UCI recorded 18 points in the paint in the first half, with CSUB scoring only six. However, CSUB had 12 second-chance points compared to UC Irvine’s one.
The Roadrunners started off hot in the second half, recording four quick points in transition. UCI answered with two layups and a freethrow from sophomore guard Dawson Baker, putting UCI ahead 33-32 two minutes into the second half.
Both teams continued trading baskets until Welp found himself wide open underneath the hoop, giving UCI a 44-39 advantage with 10:37 left in the game. However, the Roadrunners came storming back again, tying the game at 47.
Following two key free throws by UCI’s sophomore guard DJ Davis, the Anteaters found themselves ahead, 53-50, with a little over two minutes left in the game. Then CSUB made a tough floater at the end of the shot clock, cutting UCI’s lead to one.
Baker answered with a freethrow line jumper, pulling UCI ahead 55-52 with 1:32 left. UCI earned a big defensive stop on the next possession. Davis then came up with a
decisive offensive rebound with 30 seconds left. He was then fouled with 23.7 seconds left and made both free throws, giving UCI the win, 57-52.
UC Irvine head coach Russell Turner added his thoughts after the game.
“I feel great that we found a way to win a hard-fought, close game and that so many guys contributed,” Turner said. “That’s what has always made us, us. Being able to win those games — the tough, ugly games. I don’t think we played our best, credit that to Bakersfield, [but] we made the plays down the stretch we had to make.”
The Anteaters improved to 5-1 at home this season. Their next home match-up was against Cal Poly on Saturday, Jan. 29 which ended in another victorious win. Read about it here.
James Huston is a Sports Staff Writer. He can be reached at hustonj@uci.edu.