ESTERO, Fla. – The UC Irvine men's basketball team defeated Tulane, 67-55, in the Gulf Coast Showcase semifinals, Tuesday at Hertz Arena.

UCI remains undefeated with a 6-0 record, its best start since the 1981-82 season.

With the win, the 'Eaters advance to tomorrow's championship game against Toledo at 4:30 p.m. PT

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Collin Welp had a game-high, career-tying 15-point performance on 6-13 shooting from the floor. Welp also made a career-best three 3-pointers and dished out a career-best four assists
> Elston Jones finished with a season-high 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds. He also had two blocks and two steals
> John Edgar Jr. finished in double-digits with 13 points
> Jonathan Galloway had a game-high 12 rebounds
> 35 of UCI's 67 points came off the bench
> The Anteaters shot 42.9 percent (24-56) from the field and 35.3 percent (6-17) from three-point range
> UCI out-rebounded Tulane 46-37 and held the Green Wave to 33.9 percent (20-59) shooting from the floor
> The 'Eaters held advantages in points in the paint (26-12), points off the bench (35-10) and assists (15-1)
> The Green Waves' Caleb Daniels finished with 14 points while Shakwon Barrett pulled down nine boards

First half
> UCI got off to a slow start, trailing Tulane 12-2 with 15:31 to play
> A Welp  3-pointer started a 10-2 run for the 'Eaters that was capped by a made three from Darrian Traylor as UCI closed the gap, 16-14, with 9:29 remaining
> Back-to-back layups from John Edgar Jr. gave the Anteaters their first lead of the game, 19-18, at 4:51
> The Green Wave used a 6-0 run to go up 25-19 (2:54) but two layups from Jones and a jumper from Welp knotted the game, 25-25 as the teams went into the locker rooms
> Jones led UCI with eight points while Welp had seven

Second half
> UCI out-scored Tulane 42-30 in the half to seal the win
> Welp made back-to-back three-pointers in a 10-point run that gave the 'Eaters a 10-point, 46-36, lead with 13:19 to play
> Traylor knocked down a three with 9:44 showing on the clock to give UCI its largest lead of the game, 52-39
> The Green Wave used a 5-0 run down the stretch to bring the game within seven, 57-50 (4:15)
> Jordan Cornish hit a three-pointer with 23 seconds left to play making it, 61-55, but UCI made 6-8 free throws in the final 20 seconds to take the 67-55 victory

ELSTON JONES ON UCI'S 6-0 START
"I feel like we are playing pretty good basketball right now. We have a great team this year that we can do a lot with and I just want to keep this streak going."

NOTES
> UCI is one of 63 DI teams that are still undefeated in 2018-19
> This was UCI's first win over Tulane in program history
> Collin Welp led the Anteaters in scoring for the third time this season
> It was the fourth game this season that UCI's leading scorer came off the bench

UP NEXT
> UCI will play tomorrow in the Gulf Coast Showcase Championship Game at 4:30 p.m. PT against Toledo.