The UC Irvine Anteaters (8-5, 1-0) defeated the UC Riverside Highlanders (5-8, 0-1) 73-66 in their Big West regular season home opener at the Bren Events Center on Dec 28.
The victory marks the first time the Anteaters have started 5-0 at home since the 2021-22 season.
The Anteaters took an early 2-0 lead in the game as freshman forward Carter Welling made a layup assisted by redshirt senior guard Justin Hohn. UC Riverside answered back as redshirt freshman guard Barrington Hargress made a layup of his own to tie the game up at 2-2.
The Anteaters controlled the game up until UC Riverside redshirt sophomore guard Isaiah Moses made a jumper, putting the Highlanders ahead 13-12. UC Irvine responded as senior guard Andre Henry made a jumper of his own to regain the lead for the Anteaters, 14-13.
The game went back-and-forth as Highlanders redshirt forward Kaleb Smith made a three-pointer to regain the lead, 19-18. The Anteaters jumped back out in front again as a three-pointer by Hohn capped a 5-0 spurt, putting them ahead 23-19 with seven minutes left in the first half.
UCI held the lead for a large remainder of the first half, until Smith made a layup off of a fast break which tied the game. Shortly after, UC Riverside senior forward Wil Tattersall fouled Henry, who made two free throws to give the Anteaters a 30-28 lead.
Henry made a layup in the final moments of the first half closing out a 7-3 run to give the Anteaters a 37-31 lead going into the second half.
The Anteaters maintained their lead for the remainder despite multiple efforts by the Highlanders, which cut the UC Irvine lead to three points at multiple times in the second half of the game. However, the Highlanders’ hopes of a victory in the Big West opener fell short following a foul by Hargress on a three-point shot from Henry with eight seconds left in the game. Henry made the three-pointer and the following free throw to give the Anteaters a 73-66 lead, which they held on for the remainder of the game.
Redshirt junior forward Devin Tillis had a 10 points and 10 rebounds game, becoming the first Anteater to score a double-double since fifth-year guard Pierre Crockrell had a 12-point and 11-assist double-double on Dec. 16. Henry also had a strong game for the ‘Eaters as he scored 23 points, adding two rebounds and one assist.
UC Irvine also had two more players reach double digit scoring. Welling had a 14 point, seven rebound, three block and one assist game. While Hohn had a 13 point, three assist, one steal and one rebound game.
The Anteaters improved to 2-0 in Big West Conference play, defeating Cal State Bakersfield 75-56 on Dec 30.
The Anteaters returned home to the Bren Events Center on Jan 4. as they took on California State University, Fullerton in a rematch of last year’s Big West Championship semifinal game. The Anteaters were victorious in this game winning 75-67.
Jack Fedor is a Sports Staff Writer. He can be reached at jfedor@uci.edu.