STOCKTON, Calif. --- Khalil Kelley's free throw with 2:24 remaining broke a 73-73 tie and Pacific held off UC Irvine, 84-79, in a non-conference game at Stockton Tuesday night.
Ross Rivera had 21 points and eight rebounds to lead the Tigers (2-0), scoring 17 of his points in the first half. Sama Taku added 20 points and eight boards, hitting six free throws in the final 33 seconds.
Alex Young led UCI (0-2) with 17 points and four assists while Chris McNealy added 15 points. Will Davis scored 12 points and Luke Nelson 11, including nine in the second half.
Freshman center Mamadou Ndiaye added nine points, six rebounds and two blocked shots before fouling out with 2:24 left. Travis Souza had five points, five boards and two assists in the battle of former Big West Conference foes. Pacific is now a member of the West Coast Conference.
UCI had early leads of 9-0 and 18-6, but an 18-1 run by Pacific midway through the first half gave the Tigers a 24-19 lead on a Rivera three with 8:59 left in the opening 20 minutes. Pacific maintained its lead at the half, 43-39.
The Anteaters took a momentary lead at 46-45 on a jumper by McNealy with 17:50 left in the game, but Andrew Bock hit a three 12 seconds later to put Pacific back up 48-46 at the 17:38 mark.
The Tigers took their largest lead of the night at 69-61 on a free throw by Aaron Short with 7:46 remaining.
The 'Eaters then went on a 9-2 run on a basket from McNealy, a three by Nelson, a dunk by Davis and a pair of foul shots from Nelson to pull within 1-70 with 5:38 left.
Bock put Pacific up 73-70 on two free throws with 5:08 remaining before a dunk by Ndiaye at 3:59 cut the deficit to one.
A free throw by Nelson pulled UCI even at 73-all with 2:52 remaining before the Tigers scored six straight points to take a 79-73 lead with 32 seconds left on a pair of free throws by Taku.
A total of 66 fouls were called in the game and the teams combined to shoot 77 free throws. Pacific was 31 of 37 from the line and UCI hit 25 of 40 foul shots.
The Anteaters shot 50 percent from the field in the game and Pacific 40 percent. UCI was 6 of 18 on threes to Pacific's 3 of 14. The Tigers outrebounded the 'Eaters, 39-33, and UCI committed 14 turnovers to Pacific's eight.
"This is another tough loss for us, obviously," UCI head coach Russell Turner said. "We were better tonight in some stretches and had several guys show improvement, but as a team, we have to learn from our previous mistakes. We know we have to make free throws and we hurt ourselves at the line tonight.
"Not to make any excuses, but Pacific is a veteran team and they put it to us at times, especially in the paint, which surprises me a bit. We will get better at that," Turner added.
UCI plays at Washington Thursday night at 8:00 in the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Wounded Warrior Project Seattle Regional. This will be just the second meeting in the series, with the 'Eaters winning 56-55 in Seattle Dec. 28, 2000.
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