RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- UC Irvine, featuring a "new look" starting lineup, gained control of the game late in the first half and went on to defeat UC Riverside, 72-52, in Big West Conference action at the SRC Arena in Riverside Saturday night.
With the victory, the 'Eaters improved to 2-0 in the conference and 11-7 overall. With Thursday's win at Long Beach State, UCI recorded its first Big West weekend road sweep since defeating Pacific and UC Davis Jan. 5 and 7, 2012.
Freshman guard Luke Nelson led UCI with 14 points, senior guard Chris McNealy had 13 and redshirt sophomore forward Mike Best registered nine points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots.
Junior guard Travis Souza also scored nine points, hitting 3 of 4 threes. Freshman forward Ioannis Dimakopoulos hit a pair of treys for six points, sophomore guard Alex Young registered eight assists along with five points, junior center John Ryan had seven rebounds and five points, and sophomore guard Aaron Wright also scored five points and added two assists.
UCI head coach Russell Turner elected to hold junior forward Will Davis II and freshman center Mamadou Ndiaye out of the game. They each had started the first 17 games of the season and were in uniform Saturday, and are expected to be ready for Thursday night's home game against Cal State Fullerton. Best and Ryan started in their places Saturday night.
UCI hit 11 of 21 threes in the game, including 5 of 8 in the second half. The 'Eaters committed just four turnovers in the game, the fewest for the program since recording four in a 70-66 win at UC Santa Barbara Jan. 9, 2006.
Chris Patton led UC Riverside (5-11, 0-2) with 14 points while Sam Finley added 13.
UCI closed out the first half with a 17-8 run over the final six minutes to go up 35-23 at the break.
The 'Eaters led by double digits throughout the second half, but the Highlanders did close within 10 at 45-35 on a basket by Patton with 14:52 remaining before UCI extended its lead to 58-41 on a three from Wright with 10:23 left and maintained control the rest of the way.
UCI shot 52 percent from the field in the second half and 48 percent for the game while UC Riverside shot 29.6 percent. The Highlanders were just 1 of 12 from three-point range and that successful attempt as time expired in the game.
"I was pleased with our collective effort on defense tonight and thought we executed our game plan well," UCI Coach Turner said.
"I give my staff credit, they've recruited well. We have depth and talent on this team, and guys like John Ryan and Mike Best just needed this opportunity tonight to show what they can do," Turner added.
"We have three straight home games coming up and I hope our fans will be there to support us. We have a compelling team that competes hard," Turner said.
UCI begins the stretch of three consecutive home contests Thursday night at 7:00, facing Cal State Fullerton the Bren Events Center.
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