BATON ROUGE, La. --- Michael Wilder tied his season high with 19 points and UC Irvine took LSU to the wire, but the Tigers prevailed, 66-59, before 7,469 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge Thursday night.
Wilder, a junior forward, hit five threes in the game and scored 16 of his points in the second half. He added six rebounds and two steals as UCI fell to 2-8 on the season. Wilder was 5 of 11 from the field, including 5 of 10 on threes, in the first meeting between the schools. He hit 4 of 5 treys in the second half.
Justin Hamilton led LSU (7-3) with 14 points and 11 rebounds while Eddie Ludwig added 12 points.
The Anteaters shot just 21.9 percent from the field in the first half and trailed 28-16 at the break.
UCI chipped away at the deficit to start the second half and scored nine straight points in a span of 1:16 to pull within 44-39 on a three by Wilder with 10:20 remaining.
The Tigers extended their lead to nine but the Anteaters closed to within four at 50-46 on another Wilder trey with 6:24 left.
Hamilton scored four consecutive points to give LSU a 54-46 lead with 5:15 remaining and the Tigers led by at least five down the stretch.
Sophomore guard Chris McNealy had nine points, eight rebounds and three assists for UCI while freshman post Will Davis II added seven points and three boards.
Junior center Adam Folker had six points and eight rebounds, junior guard Daman Starring added six points and seven boards, and freshman center Mike Best also scored six points, hitting 3 of 5 shots.
Freshman guard Aaron Wright, who had started the previous five games, did not play due to a knee injury he sustained midway through the second half of Tuesday night's game at Wyoming.
The Anteaters shot 44.1 percent from the floor in the second half while LSU shot 28.6 percent in the final 20 minutes and 31.1 percent for the game.
Each team hit six three-pointers in the contest. The Tigers hit 18 of 24 free throws, including 15 of 18 in the second half, and UCI was 9 of 10 from the foul line in the game.
LSU outrebounded the Anteaters, 50-45, but UCI outscored the taller Tigers in the paint, 20-12.
"We gave ourselves a chance down the stretch to make a few plays and win this game, but we didn't make enough of those plays," UCI head coach Russell Turner said.
"We've now had a number of games with rough first halves and we have to take responsibility for that as coaches and responsibility for that as players. We had good looks that didn't drop in the first half tonight.
"We have spent a lot of time focusing on our defensive performance and have been effective against some pretty good teams, but to win games we also need to get more continuity on offense," Turner added. "We have to come out and be more aggressive and successful against opponents in the first half.
"I want to congratulate my team for not quitting. It's tough as people are looking at us and seeing our 2-8 record, but we've played some good teams. I'm not making excuses and I don't believe in moral victories," the coach said.
"I want our fans to continue to believe in us because our guys believe in each other and we will work harder and get better. We need to rise up and give two good performances next week before Christmas and get ready for Big West play," Turner said. The Anteaters open conference play Dec. 29 at Cal State Northridge.
UCI faces UCLA Tuesday night at 7:30 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena to complete a stretch of three consecutive road games.
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