Box Score
RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- Senior forward Mike Best scored 20 points to lead UC Irvine over UC Riverside, 76-66, in the Big West Conference regular-season finale at Riverside Saturday afternoon.
UCI (24-8, 13-3) closed the game with a 24-4 run to earn a share of the Big West regular-season title due to Hawai'i's loss at Long Beach State. This is the second time in three years that Coach Russell Turner's Anteaters have won outright or shared the regular-season championship, and fourth time overall for the program.
UCI is the No. 2 seed for the Big West Tournament and will face seventh-seeded Cal Poly Thursday at 6:00 p.m. in a quarterfinal game at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
Best was 9 of 13 from the field and added five rebounds in Saturday's win.
Junior guard Luke Nelson hit 6 of 7 shots and scored 18 points, including 14 in the second half. Senior guard Alex Young added 14 points and three assists.
Junior center Mamadou Ndiaye had 10 rebounds and nine points. With one blocked shot in Saturday's game, he became UCI's career leader with 209, one ahead of former record-holder Will Davis II.
Jaylen Bland led five Highlanders in double figures with 15 points. Alex Larsson added 12 points for UC Riverside, which fell to 14-18 overall and 5-11 in the Big West.
The 'Eaters hit their first seven shots of the game and led for virtually the entire first half, taking a 32-26 halftime lead on the strength of 10 points by Best.
The lead changed hands several times in the first nine minutes of the second half and UCI led 51-48 on a basket by Nelson with 11:06 remaining.
UC Riverside then went on a 14-1 run over the next 3 ½ minutes to take a 10-point lead at 62-52 on a three by Malik Thames with 7:46 left.
UCI returned the favor, going on a 14-0 spurt in the next 3:41 to forge ahead 66-62 on a layup by Best with 4:05 remaining.
The Highlanders closed to within three on two occasions late, but the 'Eaters outscored UC Riverside, 8-1 in the final 2 ½ minutes to seal the victory.
UCI shot 68 percent from the field in the second half and 61 percent for the game. The Anteaters were 22 of 32 from the free-throw line and outrebounded the Highlanders, 31-21.
UC Riverside hit 8 of 14 threes in the second half, but shot just 38.9 percent from the field in the game as UCI improved to 17-0 this season when holding the opposition to under 40 percent. The Anteaters have won 53 of their last 55 games when the opponents are below 40 percent from the field.
The 24 wins this season are the second-most in the UCI program's history and the 13 Big West victories tie for second-most.
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