IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine notched its 20^th win of the season with a 60-53 victory over Cal State Fullerton at the Bren Events Center Wednesday night.
 
The Anteaters improve to 20-5 overall, the fastest to 20 wins on the calendar in program history. UCI wins its sixth in a row and goes to 8-1 atop the Big West.
 
Cal State Fullerton is 9-13 on the year and 5-3 in Big West action.
 
UCI turned up the heat in the second half, scoring 42 points, while holding the Titans to just 32.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Jonathan Galloway posted his fourth double-double with a career-high 14 points and game-high 11 rebounds 
>Guard Max Hazzard had a game-high 19 points on 7-13 shooting from the field, including 4-8 from long distance. He scored 14 of his points in the second half
>Spencer Rivers scored a season-high six points in six minutes in the first half
>Eyassu Worku dished out four assists while Evan Leonard grabbed three steals
>UCI shot 42 percent overall (21-50) while holding CSF to just 32.1 percent (17-53) from the field
>The 'Eaters were 36.8 percent from distance while the Titans only made 4-14 9.286) from long range
>UCI out-rebounded CSF 37-34 and held advantages in fast break points (17-9). However, the Titans were able to convert 23 points on 10 Anteater turnovers
>Khalil Ahmad had a game-high 22 points for Cal State Fullerton
 
TURNING POINTS
FIRST HALF
>Cal State Fullerton scored seven points on four UCI turnovers to jump out to a 12-6 lead at 12:29
>Spencer Rivers came off the bench to post a season-high six points to keep the Anteaters close 16-12 at 8:51
>Eyassu Worku had a streaking layup after a Titan turnover on the next possession (8:18) to edge to 16-14
>Neither team would score until a pair of Titan free throws at 4:14 to extend the CSF lead to 18-14
>A jumper and free throw by Fullerton put the Titans ahead 21-16 at 2:05
>A Max Hazzard layup with five seconds on the clock ended the scoring 21-18 
>Both teams struggled offensively with the Anteaters shooting 32.1 percent (9-28) and the Titans 26.9 percent (7-26) from the floor. UCI went 0-7 from beyond the arc, the second time this season they haven't recorded a trey
 
SECOND HALF
>CSF scored the first five points of the half down low to lead 26-18 (17:29)
>UCI would go on a 9-3 run which was capped by a back-to-back three-pointers by Robert Cartwright (14:03) and Collin Welp to take the lead 30-29 with 11:32 remaining
>Worku hit a three at 10:58 before Hazzard hit two consecutive three-pointers, the last at 8:48 to give UCI a 39-32 lead and force a Titan timeout
>Two more Hazzard threes gave UCI a 10-point lead (47-37) with 5:04 on the clock
> Two Evan Leonard free throws was followed by a Jonathan Galloway dunk to increase the gap to 53-41 at 2:32
>A Welp layup at 1:15 gave UCI its largest lead of the game 55-43
>The Titans tried to rally with a 10-5 spurt but time ran out, 60-53

HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER ON TONIGHT'S WIN
"I am pleased with being able to win a tough game at home against a good team who we know is very capable to beat us but we made them play poorly again which is credit to our guys. This is a great group and we've shown resilience, mental toughness and emotional toughness."
 


NOTES
>Max Hazzard extended his streak of hitting a three-pointer to 17 games
>UCI improves to 9-0 when holding opponents to 60 points or less
>UCI's 18 first half points were the second lowest total for a half this season 
>The Anteaters swept the home and away series against CSF and improve to 55-55 in the all-time series

UP NEXT
>UCI will host Hawaii Saturday (Feb. 9) at 7:00 p.m. in the Bren Center as the university celebrates Homecoming