RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- The Anteater defense continued its dominance snagging a gritty road win at UC Riverside, 62-52, Saturday evening at the SRC Arena.

UC Irvine (13-14, 8-3) touting the 10th-best shooting defense in the nation entering the game forced another abysmal shooting performance with UCR shooting just 31.5% on the night and forcing a season-high 21 turnovers.

After opening up on a 10-2 run, UC Riverside (6-18, 1-9) showed its mettle with a run of its own to take the lead at 13-11 eight minutes in. The Anteaters bounced back with a 9-0 run, and was able to hang on to that lead through to the 10-point victory. It wasn't without its challenges as UCR stayed within single digits throughout the first half trailing by just seven at the half.

UCI's offense awoke to open the second half extending the lead out to as big as 12 points, but the Highlanders fought back closing the game to 46-44 with 7:34 remaining on the backs of Dikymbe Martin, who poured in 11 points in his first game back from a six-game suspension, and 11 from Chance Murray, who shot just 1-of-12 from the field in the first meeting.

A big corner-three from John Edgar Jr. swung the momentum as UCI spat out a quick 10-2 run to finally silence the Highlanders and convert a fifth straight victory, 62-52.

Evan Leonard rose up with 10 of his game-high 18 points in the second half, and added five steals which were a career high and gave the team 10 on the night, tying its highest total on the season.

Leonard got help from Tommy Rutherford and his 15 points and seven rebounds, and 10 points from Eyassu Worku who recorded four assists, three rebounds, and a pair of steals.

"The performance was a little ugly," noted head coach Russell Turner, "but when I look up there and see a 10-point victory, I feel pretty good."

The 52 points allowed are the second-lowest from the 'Eaters on the season, and they've now held their opponent under 60 points in four of the five games on the current win streak.

"This game we knew was going to be difficult. We never played with that rhythm tonight, we had a lot of plays in which we looked uncertain, and things got us a little off-kilter, but we never stopped defending, and I'm proud of that, and that can get you wins on a lot of nights. My message to the team tonight was we had a lot of guys that didn't play very well tonight, but we need everybody."

UCI got a defensive effort from everyone on the squad including 11 rebounds from Jonathan Galloway to lead all players along with six points of his own, and Elston Jones, coming off a six-block game, provided some clutch buckets and added five rebounds for the ninth time in 11 conference games.

UCR was led by DJ Sylvester's 12 points, six coming from the free-throw line, and Chance Murray who never left the court playing all 40 minutes, but was plagued with six turnovers and shot just 4-of-16.

The win boosts UC Irvine up into sole possession of second place in the conference, now 8-3, and a game away from returning to the .500-mark now 13-14. Next up will be a home game on Thursday, Feb. 15, matching up with Hawai'i for a first time this season. The game will be shown on ESPN3 with an 8:00 p.m. start time.

NOTES: UC Irvine's FG percentage of 35.7% is its second-lowest of the season and lowest to come in a victory...Jonathan Galloway's seven rebounds at halftime jumped him from 14th to 10th all-time in program history passing the likes of Ricky Butler, Adam Folker, Jerry Maras, and Jeff Von Lutzow, he now has 619 career rebounds...tonight marked the seventh time this season UCI has grabbed at least 15 offensive rebounds, fourth in Big west play...John Edgar Jr. played a career high 32 minutes eclipsing the 30 minutes he played in the home win against Long Beach State this season