SANTA CLARA, Calif. --- Senior center Ioannis Dimakopoulos scored 15 points and freshman John Edgar Jr. added a career-high 13 to lead UC Irvine over Santa Clara, 58-55, at the Leavey Center in Santa Clara Wednesday night.
Dimakopoulos, who was 7 of 12 from the field in the game, scored 11 of his points in the first half.
Edgar Jr. hit 5 of 6 shots, including all three of his attempts from beyond the arc.
Sophomore forward Jonathan Galloway pulled down eight rebounds for the Anteaters (4-4), who outrebounded the Broncos, 36-24. UCI's bench outscored Santa Clara's reserves, 29-2, and the Anteaters had a 26-14 margin in the paint.
Freshman forward Tommy Rutherford added six points and five boards, and senior guard Jaron Martin also scored six points and had four assists for the Anteaters.
Freshman guard Eyassu Worku registered a career-high five assists while freshman guard Evan Leonard had a career-best three assists and scored five points.
Jared Brownridge led Santa Clara (3-5) with 20 points and Matt Hauser added 14 while Nate Kratch had a game-high nine boards.
After the Broncos jumped out to an 8-2 lead just 2 ½ minutes into the game, the 'Eaters went on a 21-4 run to go up 23-12 on a layup by freshman post Brad Greene with 7:45 left in the first half.
Santa Clara scored the final seven points of the opening half to pull within 31-29 at halftime.
The Broncos took the lead at 41-39 on a three by Brownridge with 12:28 remaining, but UCI went on a 16-4 spree to forge ahead 55-45 after a basket by Edgar Jr. at the 7:06 mark. He hit back-to-back threes early in that run to launch the Anteater surge.
A trey by Brownridge with 1:28 left drew Santa Clara within 58-55, but he was off the mark on a pair of three-point attempts in the final 17 seconds as UCI hung on for the victory, its fourth in as many meetings in the Santa Clara series.
UCI shot 54.5 percent from the floor to the Broncos' 33.9 percent as the 'Eaters have won 60 of their last 65 games when holding the opponents below 40 percent. Eleven of Santa Clara's 20 baskets were from three-point range.
"I'm excited to win a close game in a road environment and with a young team," UCI head coach Russell Turner said. "I'm really happy with the way we performed.
"We had mainly freshmen in the game at key times and I thought the youthful group turned the game around with an aggressive, quick man-to-man defense and that was fun to see.
"We know that we're going to play multiple guys and in this game, I thought our depth would be an advantage.
"We rotate our players and I think that's the best way to manage a young team. We have talent on this team and we've got to continue to play guys so their talents can emerge and build confidence." Turner added.
"I'm really happy for John Edgar Jr. He came to play tonight and shot the ball with incredible confidence and gave us the lift we needed."
UCI has won 61 of its last 64 games when limiting the opposition to 60 points or less.
The 'Eaters travel to No. 15/16 Arizona Tuesday night for a 7:00 (PT) game that will be carried on the Pac-12 Networks.
