Box Score HONOLULU, Hawaii -- UC Irvine put on another great defensive performance as the Anteaters defeated Hawaii 66-57 at the Stan Sheriff Center Saturday evening.

"We had a great defensive effort tonight, I'm proud of that," head coach Russell Turner said. "Teams have a frustrating night when they face Jonathan Galloway. We get stronger when teams go at him."

The Anteaters held the Rainbow Warriors to just 47 points with 1:26 to go in the game, allowing Hawaii's final 10 points with both teams' benches on the floor. UCI is 10-0 on the year when holding opponents under 60 points.

UC Irvine climbs over .500 at 16-15 overall, winning eight of the last nine outings. The Anteaters maintain the top spot in the Big West with an 11-4 mark.

A trio of UCI players recorded double figure scoring, led by Evan Leonard's 19 on 6-11 shooting from the field. The sophomore went 3-5 beyond the arc and 4-6 from the line with four rebounds, a steal and an assist.

John Edgar Jr. had 14 points, nine coming in the second half to go with eight rebounds. Tommy Rutherford also had a nice second half scoring eight of his 12 points in the final 20 minutes. Jonathan Galloway had a game-high 10 rebounds with Eyassu Worku adding eight points and Brad Greene finishing with six points and six rebounds. Riley Welch played 12 minutes, 11 of them coming in the first half, recording two points and an assist in that span.

"I think we came ready to play tonight." Turner continued. "Riley Welch was ready to play and did a great job and gave us valuable minutes. This is a hard place to play especially on senior night and I think it was a good team win."

Hawaii (16-11, 7-7) was paced by Drew Buggs with 11 points and Sheriff Drammeh with 10 points. Mike Thomas had a team-best seven rebounds.

UCI out-rebounded Hawaii 40-34 and had just nine turnovers for the game. The Anteaters shot 38.9 percent from the floor (21-54) and 76.0 from the free throw line (19-25). Hawaii struggled from the line hitting just 16-28 (57.1%) and went 18-52 from the floor (34.6%). Both teams knocked down five three-pointers and had four blocked shots.

UCI went on an 11-0 run which was jump started by two athletic plays from Brad Greene and capped by a John Edgar Jr. jumper to put the Anteaters up 20-9 with 10:56 to play in the first half. Consecutive buckets by Greene and Jonathan Galloway extended the advantage to 12 (31-19) at 4:13. Following a Tommy Rutherford dunk on a pass from Riley Welch, Hawaii would score the final three points to put UCI up by nine (33-24) at the half.   

It was a slow start to the second half as the Anteaters managed two points on free throws by Rutherford and Edgar Jr. allowing Hawaii to cut the margin to 35-32 until Evan Leonard sank a three-pointer at 14:38 (38-32). Hawaii would score the next four to close within 38-36 at 12:47, but an Edgar Jr. three and a pair of Rutherford free throws silenced the boisterous crowd at 10:41 (43-36). Following a Hawaii basket, a thunderous dunk by Edgar Jr. who was fouled and made the following free throw was the exclamation point to UCI's 6-0 spurt at 7:22 to put the Anteaters in front by 11 (49-38). A jumper by Eyassu Worku at 3:27 gave UCI its largest lead 58-43, only letting Hawaii sneak under double-digits in the final 17 seconds.

UCI concludes the regular season with a showdown against UC Davis next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Bren Events Center. Fans should buy tickets early as a large crowd is expected for Homecoming and a chance to watch the Anteaters to play for a regular season Big West title.

NOTES: Welch's 12 minutes is second most of his career only behind logging 14 at UC Riverside on Jan. 24… Nine turnovers is the second fewest this season by the Anteaters…Edgar Jr.'s eight rebounds is the most since he pulled down 10 against Long Beach State in the conference opener…Leonard has led the team in scoring 12 times this year…He has drained a three in nine consecutive games…UCI snapped a streak of 20 consecutive free throws with a miss early in the second half.