HUNTSVILLE, Tex. --- Daman Starring scored 12 points and Chris McNealy 10 to lead UC Irvine past Liberty, 64-46, in a Progressive Legends Classic Subregional game at Huntsville, Tex., Monday night.
Starring hit 5 of 7 shots as the 'Eaters improved to 3-1 on the season, the program's best start in seven years since opening 3-1 in the 2005-06 season.
Adam Folker scored nine points on 4-of-5 shooting and added four rebounds while freshman Conor Clifford also grabbed four boards to go along with his eight points.
Derick Flowers recorded seven points and four assists while Michael Wilder also had four assists, three rebounds and three steals. Will Davis II had five blocked shots and scored six points.
Davon Marshall led the Flames (0-4) with 12 points, hitting 4 of 7 threes, and Tavares Speaks had 11 points. Liberty hit 5 of 8 threes in the first half and 6 of 11 for the game.
The Anteaters capitalized on a 10-2 run to end the first half, taking a 30-24 lead at the break on the strength of eight points from McNealy.
UCI extended the lead to 27 at 63-36 on a three by Travis Souza with 3:58 remaining in the game.
The 'Eaters shot 43.4 percent from the field while Liberty hit 39.5 percent of its shots. UCI had a 34-32 advantage on the boards with nine of its rebounds on the offensive end.
"We have a lot of different combinations that we can win with," UCI head coach Russell Turner said. "I thought we won tonight without playing our best offense for most of the game.
"I liked our defense once we started reacting to who was shooting threes for Liberty," he added.
UCI faces Southern Miss Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. (PT) in the second day of the subregional. The Anteaters will meet host Sam Houston State Wednesday night.
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