The UC Irvine Men’s Basketball team (22-10, 15-5) defeated the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (10-21, 6-14) 52-44 in a tough defensive showcase in the Bren Events Center on Saturday, March 4.
The win gave UC Irvine a share of the Big West Conference regular season championship and also secured the Anteaters the number one seed going into the Big West Tournament, which starts Tuesday, March 7 in Henderson, Nevada.
Turnovers and missed shots ended most of the possessions by both teams. The defense on both sides saw no real space created on either end of the floor.
UCI junior guard Dawson Baker got the show started with a three-pointer to give UCI an early 7-3 lead. Redshirt junior guard Justin Hohn also led the Anteaters in scoring. Five minutes into the game, Hohn caught fire with three straight three-pointers. This gave the Anteaters an 18-8 lead with 12 minutes to go in the first half.
The Roadrunners struggled with shooting, especially from behind the arc where they shot 0-10. The ‘Eaters shot a low 27.3% from behind the arc and 42.9% from the field. Quick buckets came from senior forward Dean Keeler and redshirt sophomore Devin Tillis to extend the lead to 26-16 with four minutes remaining. The half ended with the ‘Eaters in control, 29-17.
Baker led the ‘Eaters with a hard drive into the paint to start the second half strong but, like in the first half, both offenses had trouble scoring. Baker dished out an assist to Tillis to convert an easy lay-up, putting the ‘Eaters up 11. However, the Roadrunners went on their best run of the night, cutting the UCI lead from 33-22 to 34-30.
Redshirt senior forward JC Butler gave Irvine some breathing room with a three in transition. Hohn helped the scoring cause with a three of his own to extend the ‘Eater lead to 40-30. UCI senior guard Pierre Crockrell II, who came into the night leading the conference with five assists per game, saw Baker cutting in and assisted him with a bounce pass for an easy reverse layup, putting UCI back up eight with six minutes remaining. Bakersfield could not generate offensive pressure and started tactically fouling UCI toward the end of the game. The ‘Eaters hit their free throws and fought their way to a 52-44 win in the last home game of the season.
The Anteaters will travel to the Hercules Tires Big West Conference Tournament Championship presented by the Hawaiian Islands on March 7-11, where a spot in the NCAA March Madness tournament is on the line. UCI will enter the tourney ranked as the number one seed with a championship trophy required to receive a bid to the Big Dance.
Miguel Rodriguez is a Sports Staff Writer. He can be reached at miguer9@uci.edu.