IRVINE, Calif. --- The freshmen duo of Luke Nelson and Mamadou Ndiaye helped carry UC Irvine past Long Beach State, 61-58, in a showdown of two of the Big West Conference leaders at the Bren Events Center Thursday night.
Nelson scored a career-high 28 points and added four steals as the Anteaters improved to 15-9 overall and 6-2 in the conference. He was 10 of 15 from the field, including 5 of 8 on threes. Nelson has averaged 23.0 points over the last three games and hit 15 threes in that span.
Ndiaye, UCI's 7-6 center, broke his own school and Big West record with 11 blocked shots and he added 10 rebounds and eight points. He passed his previous record of 10 blocked shots set in a Nov. 24 win over Eastern Washington and he now has 81 rejections on the season, seven shy of the single-season school mark of 88 set by teammate Will Davis II last year.
Senior guard Chris McNealy scored 10 points while sophomore guard Alex Young had six points and five assists. McNealy now has 1,102 career points as he moved into the 20th spot on UCI's all-time scoring list.
Dan Jennings led the 49ers (9-13, 5-3) with 14 points and seven rebounds while Travis Hammonds had 10 points and 10 boards. A.J. Spencer also scored 10 points.
The back-and-forth game between two of the Big West heavyweights featured 11 lead changes and 10 ties.
The teams were knotted at 31-31 at halftime and Long Beach State built a 49-44 lead on a basket by Spencer with 9:31 remaining before the 'Eaters scored the next 12 points.
Nelson hit a pair of free throws with 7:48 left to close the gap to 49-46 and McNealy tied the game at 49-all on a three at the 7:07 mark.
McNealy sank a free throw with 6:37 remaining for a one-point UCI lead and a steal and layup by Nelson with 6:02 left gave the 'Eaters a 52-49 lead.
McNealy nailed a jumper with 5:03 remaining and another steal and layup by Nelson with 4:42 left put UCI up 56-49.
The 49ers then went on an 8-2 run to close within 58-57 on a three by Tyler Lamb with 1:24 on the clock before a clutch jumper by Nelson gave the 'Eaters a 60-57 lead with 44 seconds left.
Mike Caffey hit one free throw for Long Beach State with 27 seconds remaining to cut the margin to one and a free throw by Nelson with 7.3 ticks left put UCI up 61-58.
Lamb missed a deep three in the closing seconds as UCI won for the 22nd time in the last 27 games at the Bren Center. This was the 'Eaters' fourth consecutive win over the 49ers.
UCI shot 41 percent from the field and Long Beach State 34 percent as the 'Eaters improved to 14-0 this season when holding the opposition to under 40 percent. UCI is 9-0 when limiting its opponents to less than 60 points.
The 49ers won the battle on the boards, 42-37.
"We had two pretty good freshmen performances tonight," UCI head coach Russell Turner said. "The two plays that Luke created with steals and scores were big for us. That was a game-changing period of the second half for us.
"Mamadou was phenomenal. Long Beach likes to challenge at the rim and he stayed back and played smart. He erases and affects other shots. He's really a good player and he keeps getting better.
"It was a good team win. We have a lot of respect for Long Beach. They're good and hard to beat, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see them again this season," Turner added.
UCI travels to UC Davis Saturday for a 7:00 game against the Aggies before returning home to face UC Riverside Feb. 15 in the Bren Center at 7:00 p.m.
The 'Eaters and UC Santa Barbara are tied for first in the Big West with 6-2 marks as the Gauchos won at Hawai'i, 75-64, Thursday evening.
Mamadou Ndiaye had a school and Big West-record 11 blocked shots Thursday night.
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