STOCKTON, Calif. --- UC Irvine rallied from 14 points down in the second half to defeat Pacific, 70-67, in a non-conference game at the Alex G. Spanos Center in Stockton Friday night.
Junior center Mamadou Ndiaye had 19 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. He scored what turned out to be the game-winning basket on a dunk off a Luke Nelson feed with 1:18 left to put the Anteaters up 68-67. Senior Dominique Dunning scored the game's final basket on a drive with 19 seconds remaining as Pacific missed a late three-point attempt.
Junior guard Jaron Martin added 16 points off the bench, including 10 in the final 6:30. Senior guard Alex Young had 11 points, six rebounds and four assists while senior forward Mike Best also scored 11 points, all in the first half, for the Anteaters, who improved to 6-2 overall.
Alec Kobre led Pacific (1-6) with 24 points off the bench, hitting 9 of 14 field goals, including 4 of 9 from three-point range. Anthony Townes added 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting and Jacob Lampkin scored 12.
UCI built an early 14-5 lead before the Tigers went on an 18-1 run to go ahead 23-15 with 9:00 left in the opening half and Pacific went on to lead 37-33 at halftime.
The 'Eaters didn't hit a field goal in the first eight minutes of the second half as the Tigers extended their lead to 52-38 on a basket from Kobre with 12:56 left in the game.
Pacific maintained its double-digit lead until Dunning's steal and layup with 10:18 left cut the deficit to 54-45.
Ndiaye followed with a bucket at the 9:14 mark to pull UCI within 54-47, but the Tigers built the lead back up to 10 at 61-51 on a three by Kobre with 6:45 remaining.
Five straight points by Martin, including a trey with 5:01 left, drew the 'Eaters within 63-61.
Ilias Theodorou scored with 3:54 remaining to put Pacific up 65-61, but Martin answered on a layup with 3:36 left to make it a two-point once again at 65-63.
Lampkin hit a jumper with 2:31 remaining to give the Tigers a 67-63 lead before Nelson nailed a three from the left corner to pull UCI within 67-66 at the 2:06 mark.
That started a game-ending, seven-point run by UCI, capped by the baskets from Ndiaye and Dunning.
The Anteaters outrebounded Pacific, 38-30, pulling down 14 offensive boards, and UCI outscored the Tigers in the paint, 32-18.
UCI shot 44.6 percent from the field to Pacific's 49.1 percent, but the 'Eaters hit 15 of 21 free throws and the Tigers 5 of 9.
"We didn't play that well tonight, but I give Pacific credit for that," UCI head coach Russell Turner said. "If we want to be a championship-caliber team, we need to find ways to win these types of games and we did.
"I thought Mamadou was terrific in the second half," Turner added.
UCI plays at Saint Mary's Sunday at 4:00 p.m. in Moraga.
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