ANAHEIM, Calif. – No. 1 UC Irvine advanced to the semifinals with 63-44 victory over eighth-seed UC Riverside at the Honda Center Thursday.
 
The Anteaters improve to 28-5, tying the school record for wins in a season with the 2015-16 team (28-10). UCI also extends it winning streak to 14, another school record.
 
44 points is the fewest points and Anteater team has ever allowed an opponent to score in the Big West Tournament.
 
UC Riverside ends the year at 10-23.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Collin Welp came off the bench to lead UCI with 15 points, going 7-10 from the floor. He also topped the squad with seven rebounds 
>Guards Max Hazzard and Evan Leonard each recorded 13 points with Hazzard shooting 3-6 from beyond the arc
>Robert Cartwright dished out five assists while Elston Jones grabbed five boards and swatted two blocks
>UCR was led by Jordan Gilliam with 11 points
>UCI held advantages in rebounds (40-35), assists (13-8), points in the paint (32-20) and fast break points (17-8)
>The 'Eaters shot 41.4 percent (24-58) overall and held the Highlanders to just 31.5 percent from the floor and 26.3 percent (5-19) from long range

FIRST HALF
>UCI would go on an 11-2 run which included three three-pointers, one each by Hazzard (14:35), Leonard (13:50) and Welp (13:11), 15-6
>UC Riverside would hit three consecutive threes and tie the score at 19-19 with 8:23 to go in the half
>The Anteaters would build back the lead to 29-20 on back-to-back triples by Hazzard at 3:06
>A layup by Cartwright and a dunk by Jonathan Galloway would end the half, 33-22
>UC Riverside had 11 points of their 22 off the bench 
>UCI out-scored the Highlanders 8-0 on fast breaks in the first 20 minutes
 
SECOND HALF
>UC Riverside would not score until 17:10 allowing UCI to build a 39-22 lead
>Welp would score two consecutive baskets down under followed by one by Tommy Rutherford and a three-pointer by Spencer Rivers to open 48-27 advantage at 10:43
>Galloway would find a streaking JC Butler heading down the lane for a dunk at 8:37 to end the 11-0 run, 50-27
>UCI stretched its lead to 25, 59-34, after an Elston Jone dunk followed by a Welp layup with just over five minutes remaining
>The Highlanders brought the game inside 20 points but the 'Eaters earned the convincing, 63-44, victory

HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER ON TONIGHT'S WIN
"I'm proud of our overall performance tonight. It wasn't a pretty game but it's sort of how we pride ourselves defensively. We shut them down for multiple periods of that game and wore them out. Our scoring was balanced and we took care of the ball."

NOTES
>UCI has reached the Big West semifinals each of the last eight years
> 44 points is the fewest allowed by an opponent this season
>UCI has beaten UC Riverside every time they have met at the Big West Tournament (5-0)
>UCI 14-0 when holding opponents to 60 points or less this season
>UCI is on 3-1 neutral courts this year
 
UP NEXT
The Anteaters will face No. 5 Long Beach State in the first semifinal tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. from the Honda Center.