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UC Irvine avoids trap, pulls away to beat Cal State Fullerton

January 17, 2025

UC Irvine forward Kyle Evans, right, passes the ball around Cal State Fullerton center Zachary Visentin during their Big West Conference game on Thursday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

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IRVINE — The UC Irvine men’s basketball team seemed like a prime candidate for a letdown performance against visiting Cal State Fullerton on Thursday night.

After knocking off three straight top-flight opponents to remain the final unbeaten team in the Big West Conference for the third straight season, the Anteaters took the court shorthanded against a desperate Fullerton team that was still seeking its first conference win.

The Titans hung with UCI for much of the first half before the Anteaters found their footing and eased away for a 82-62 victory at the Bren Events Center.

“We’ve got to come through some of the mental challenges of this type of week against teams that are perceived to be weaker,” said UCI coach Russell Turner, whose team improved to 16-2 overall and 6-0 in Big West play. “In this league, anybody can beat us and we know that. There is added pressure, I think, with some of the things people are talking about because we’ve got 16 wins at this stage. We’ve got to figure out how to manage that better, grow into that.”

It was also the 19th consecutive home win for UCI, equaling the longest home winning streak in program history. The Anteaters also won 19 straight home games from Dec. 2, 2000 to Jan. 17, 2002.

“I don’t want to focus on the number of games we’ve won in a row,” Turner said. “I’d like to be focused on the opportunity we’ve created with the success that we’ve generated at this point because I know that we can continue to get better.”

Bent Leuchten scored 16 of his 21 points in the first half for the Anteaters and grabbed 10 rebounds for his third straight double-double.

Jurian Dixon scored 16 points, Myles Che had 13 before rolling his ankle with just under five minutes left, and Justin Hohn scored 11 for UCI, which came into the game with the fifth-best winning percentage in the nation (.882).

Kyle Evans paced the UCI reserves with seven points and 10 rebounds.

Zion Richardson had 14 points and 11 rebounds off the bench and Donovan Oday added 10 points for Fullerton (5-14, 0-7), which has dropped nine consecutive conference games dating to last season.

UCI was coming off wins against UC Riverside, Cal State Northridge and UC San Diego, beating them by an average of 10.7 points. Riverside was picked to finish fourth in the preseason coaches’ poll, Northridge sixth and UCSD third.

Elijah Chol, a 6-foot-11 sophomore forward, made his first start of the season in place of Devin Tillis, the team’s second-leading scorer (13.2) and rebounder (7.8), who sat out with an undisclosed injury.

The Titans opened the game in a zone defense, but the Anteaters softened it up by sinking three of their first four attempts from 3-point range, including two in a row by Leuchten, the 7-1 senior from Germany.

Fullerton called a timeout after Leuchten scored inside for an 11-2 lead less than four minutes into the game and that seemed to settle the Titans, as they scored six of the next seven points.

Richardson entered the game and sank one of his three first-half 3-pointers to cut the lead to 21-20 with 10:01 left, but the Titans could never wrestle the lead from UCI.

Fullerton seemed willing to give up the 3-point shot, while taking as many as possible on the other end. The teams combined for 19 3-point attempts through the first 10 minutes.

“We got too jump-shot happy early in the first half,” Turner said.

Fullerton remained within single digits until Leuchten scored off an inbounds pass to make it 38-27 with 2:03 left in the opening half.

The Anteaters eventually took a 45-31 lead into the intermission.

Dixon collected the first points of the second half to stretch the lead to 48-31, and his fast-break layup made it 54-33 with 15:21 left.

“I thought Jurian Dixon was really excellent tonight with his ball handling, with his decision-making, with some of the passes he threw,” Turner said. “He’s been embracing a defensive role and it’s hard to find offensive comfort and rhythm when you’re embracing the challenge on defense that he’s done.”

UCI stretched the lead to as much as 26 points before the Titans chipped away in the closing minutes.

BIG WEST STANDINGS

(Through Thursday, Jan. 16)

UC Irvine – 16-2, 6-0

UC San Diego – 15-3, 5-1

UC Santa Barbara – 12-5, 4-2

CS Northridge – 12-6, 4-3

UC Davis – 10-8, 4-3

Hawaii – 11-6, 3-3

UC Riverside – 10-8, 3-3

CS Bakersfield – 9-9, 3-3

Long Beach State – 7-11, 3-3

Cal Poly (SLO) – 6-13, 0-7

CS Fullerton – 5-14, 0-7

UC Irvine avoids trap, pulls away to beat Cal State Fullerton Orange County Register

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UC Irvine avoids trap, pulls away to beat Cal State Fullerton

BIG WEST STANDINGS

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