Box Score

 

LAS VEGAS, Nev. --- Alex Young's 10-foot fallaway jumper from the right side with 1.7 seconds left lifted UC Irvine over Green Bay, 72-70, in the championship game of the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic Monday afternoon.

The non-conference game at South Point Arena in Las Vegas featured the intensity of a late-season contest between preseason league favorites UCI (Big West) and Green Bay (Horizon).

Young, who was named the Classic's Most Outstanding Player, had 18 points, eight assists and four rebounds as UCI improved to 6-5.

He scored 11 of his points in the second half and UCI's last six points in the final 46 seconds.

Will Davis II had 16 points, hitting 7 of 11 shots, and added five rebounds for the Anteaters while Jaron Martin, who scored 12 points, converting 4 of 5 threes, was named to the All-Classic team.

Travis Souza added seven points for UCI and Luke Nelson registered four assists.

Keifer Sykes scored 22 points for Green Bay (9-3), which was ranked No. 4 in Monday's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll.

UCI was down 9-0 in the first minute of the game and 15-4 in less than three minutes before going on a 17-2 run to take a 21-17 lead on a basket by Davis with 11:41 left in the first half.

The Anteaters led by as many as 12 points in the opening 20 minutes and were up 39-33 at the break.

UCI maintained a lead until midway through the second half when a basket by Greg Mays drew the Phoenix even at 57-57 with 9:20 remaining.

The Anteaters quickly went backup by five points, but Green Bay pulled even again at 66-66 on a pair of free throws by Mays with 2:05 left.

Young hit two free throws with 46.2 seconds remaining to put UCI ahead 68-66 and Sykes hit 1 of 2 foul shots with 31.3 seconds left to close the gap to 68-67.

Young hit two more free throws with 28.3 seconds remaining to give the Anteaters a 70-67 lead, but Sykes canned a three with 18.5 seconds left to tie the game at 70-70.

UCI called timeout and Young ran down the clock before making his move to get in position for the game-winning shot.

A desperation three-point attempt by Sykes from near midcourt was off the mark as time expired.

The Anteaters hit 10 of 16 threes in the game and shot 47 percent from the field while Green Bay hit 41 percent overall from the floor.

"I'm proud of my guys," UCI head coach Russell Turner said.  "This team has resiliency, it has fight.  It was a disastrous start, but it was great to see the guys bear down and we made the plays necessary to win.

"Alex Young is a fierce competitor who I believe in and he did a great job in working the clock at the end.

"It was great to see Will Davis bring the level of play that we expect of him each game," Turner added.

UCI returns to action next Monday (Dec. 29) at Oregon for an 8:00 p.m. game (Pac-12 Networks).

 

     UCI won the championship of the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic Monday afternoon.

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