LONG BEACH, Calif. --- A career high 30 points from
Evan Leonard sparked the Anteaters to a massive second half effort to upend Long Beach State, 75-68, Wednesday night in the Walter Pyramid.
The sophomore sunk 9-of-12 shots from the field and 10 of his 11 free throws to reel in Long Beach State (12-13, 6-3) who led a majority of the first half and 31-28 at the break. Leonard put home 18 of his 30 in the second half registering the first 30-point game for an 'Eater this season, and posting a second consecutive career high against the 49ers.
"He was fabulous," praised head coach
Russell Turner of Evan's performance in the postgame interview. "Really proud of him, and of his teammates for recognizing that he was the guy we needed to go to and play through. Just an impressive performance."
The 'Eaters (10-14, 5-3) weathered an early Long Beach State barrage in the second half after Gabe Levin, who played just five first half minutes with foul trouble, scored the first eight points of the second half for the 49ers, part of the 17 out of his 19 points he registered in the half. UCI wouldn't let LBSUÂ get bigger than a seven-point lead in the half clawing all the way back to a tie game at 52-52 with 9:26 to go thanks to a
Eyassu Worku runner.
UC Irvine would take a brief lead before Levin brought the game back tied at 58-58 and followed with a bank-shot three-pointer to put Long Beach State back up, 61-60, with 5:58 remaining. UCI mounted its charge from there as Leonard sunk a pivotal three-pointer to tie things at 63-63 with 4:09 left, and took over the game down the stretch helping UC Irvine close out on a 15-5 run and complete the regular season sweep of LBSU, 75-68.
UCI dominated with 47 second-half points led by Leonard who had 18 and flanked nicely by fellow guard
Eyassu Worku who had all 11 of his points in the second frame and led all contributors with six assists. Leonard added 12 first-half points, and
Tommy Rutherford put up eight of his own with five rebounds remaining disciplined down the stretch while playing a majority of the second half with four fouls.
Elston Jones had likely his best night as an Anteater with a game-high 11 rebounds to go with six points and a monstrous block of Deishawn Booker with 34 seconds left in the contest.
"Real proud of my team. I think they've grown some over the course of our experiences together. We took great care of the ball in the second half, that's the biggest difference for us. I'm especially pleased with the number of guys that made positive contributions because that's been the strength of our program that we've got guys that can step up and I thought all the players that played tonight had a good impact. I thought we looked smart tonight. When they changed defenses, we didn't panic, we executed shots and on the rebounding emphasis we made coming into the game."
For Long Beach State, Levin's impressive second half performance stood tall as he finished with a team-high 19 points. Booker was instrumental with 12 points, four assists, four rebounds, and four steals. Temidayo Yussuf added six points, six boards, and three blocks, but was hampered by an 0-for-7 performance from the free-throw line.
In a matchup of the conference's top rebounding teams, UC Irvine rose above with a 42-28 rebounding advantage and outscoring LBSU, 42-28, in the paint.
The Anteaters add to their winning conference record now at 5-3, 10-14 overall on the campaign. The win in Walter Pyramid was just the 13th in 44 chances, but three have come in the last four matchups. The next test also comes on the road with a meeting at Cal State Fullerton Saturday night, Feb. 3, with a 7:00 p.m. matchup to be televised nationally on ESPNU.
Â
NOTES: The last 30-point scorer for the Anteaters was
Luke Nelson who recorded 36 points against Cal Poly in the Big West Tournament semifinal last season...
Elston Jones snatched double-digit rebounds for the fourth time this season, he now has at least five rebounds in 10 of his last 11 contests...this is the third time under head coach
Russell Turner that UC Irvine has swept LBSU in the regular season (2013-14 & 2015-16)...the 47 second half points for UCI is the second-most in the second half against a Division I opponent this season (48 at Denver)...UCI went 2-of-9 from three-point range, both season lows - previous lows were 4 threes made (set 4 times) and 13 attempts (at UTRGV) - in UCI's last game vs. LBSU, it set its season high in threes made (14) and attempted (25)...the Anteaters hit 85% of their free throws on the night (17-for-20) eclipsing the previous high of 81% coming in the win at Idaho
