LONG BEACH, Calif. --- UC Irvine trailed early, battled back, but could not sustain its rally as the Anteaters fell to Long Beach State, 72-63, in a Big West Conference game at the Walter Pyramid Saturday night.

The loss was the third in a row for UCI, which fell to 13-12 overall and slipped to second in the Big West with a 6-3 mark.  The 49ers improved to 10-15 overall and 5-4 in the conference with the Black & Blue Rivalry victory.

Senior guard Luke Nelson returned to the UCI lineup and led the 'Eaters with 17 points and three assists after missing the past three games with a sore hamstring.

Sophomore forwards Jonathan Galloway and Brandon Smith scored nine points apiece with Galloway pulling down a team-high eight rebounds.  Freshman center Brad Greene grabbed seven boards while redshirt freshman guard Max Hazzard had eight points and a pair of steals. 

Freshman forward Tommy Rutherford added six points and five boards, and senior guard Jaron Martin also scored six points and had four rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Evan Payne led LBSU with 19 points, Loren Jackson scored 15 and Justin Bibbins had 14 points and six assists.  Roschon Prince grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.

UCI trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half and despite shooting just 28 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes, the Anteaters were down by just 32-28 at halftime.

The 'Eaters scored the first four points of the second half to tie the game, but the 49ers built an 11-point lead at 45-34 on a three by Jackson with 13:52 left.

UCI whittled away at the deficit and took its only lead of the game at 52-51 on a triple by Nelson with 6:44 remaining.

Payne answered with a trey 50 seconds later to put LBSU back up 54-52 at the 5:54 mark and the 49ers led the rest of the way.

The Anteaters still trailed by just two at 60-58 on a basket by Nelson with 3:02 left, but LBSU went on a 9-2 run to take a 69-60 lead after two free throws by Jackson with 50 seconds remaining.

UCI, which outrebounded the 49ers, 40-33, shot 36.5 percent from the field in the game to 44.7 percent for LBSU.  The 49ers hit 25 of 33 free throws and the Anteaters 11 of 17.

UCI hosts UC Santa Barbara in a Big West game Wednesday night at 7:00 in the Bren Events Center.

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