ANAHEIM, Calif. – Robert Cartwright's 16 second half points helped lift UC Irvine over Long Beach State, 75-67, in the Big West Tournament semifinals Friday evening at the Honda Center.
 
UCI will appear in its eighth tournament final, including its third consecutive championship appearance.

The Anteaters are the first Big West team, current or former, to win 29 games in a season since national runner-up UNLV went 34-1 in 1990-91.

UCI set a new school record 29 wins improving its season record to 29-5.

The Anteaters are also riding a program-record 15 game winning streak. It is the most by a Big West team since Pacific strung 22 together in 2004-05.
 
LBSU ends its season at 15-19.
 
Cartwright tied a career-high 17 points, 16 of which came in the second half. He shot 7-13 from the floor and 3-4 from the free throw line.

UP NEXT
> UCI will play No. 3 Cal State Fullerton in the Championship Game at 9 p.m. PT
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> UCI dominated the paint, out-scoring LBSU 50-22
> Including Cartwright, a total of five Anteaters finished in double-digits. Max Hazzard finished with 14 points while Evan Leonard, Tommy Rutherford and Jonathan Galloway had 13, 11 and 10 points, respectively
> Elston Jones had a team-high seven rebounds while Jonathan Galloway grabbed six and swatted two blocks
> The Anteaters held advantages in rebounds (38-30) and second chance points (16-4)
> The 'Eaters shot 49.1 percent from the floor and held the 49ers to 41.7 percent (25-60) overall
> Deishuan Booker led LBSU with 21 points while Temidayo Yussuf grabbed eight boards
 
TURNING POINTS
FIRST HALF
>A driving layup by Hazzard through traffic put UCI up 6-2 at 16:27
>A 6-0 run by the 49ers put LBSU up 10-8 with 13:12 on the clock
>A Leonard fast break layup was followed by a Hazzard layup along the baseline at 11:04 (13-10)
>Another six in a row, the last a dunk by Mason Riggins gave Long Beach State a 16-13 lead at 9:36
>Following a LBSU three, Leonard would drain a three-pointer and get fouled and make a free throw to even the score at 19 all (6:45)
>A layup plus free throw and a three-pointer by Bryan Alberts moved LBSU in front 25-19 at 5:54
>Jones would hit a hook shot at 2:49 then UCI would manage just a free throw by Cartwright (2:35) and JC Butler (0.40) for the rest of the half
>Long Beach State would hold the 33-27 lead at the break
 
SECOND HALF
>Rutherford would go up strong, score and get fouled to bring UCI within 36-32 at 17:45
>The Beach held a 40-34 advantage before two free throws by Collin Welp was followed by a jumper by Cartwright to draw within two 40-38 at 15:04
>Another Alberts jumper kept LBSU ahead by six (46-40) before the Anteaters went on an 11-0 run. The spurt was started by the big men with baskets by Galloway (12:04) and Rutherford (11:19) then a layup by Cartwright would knot the score at 46-46 with 10:39 to play
>A pair of free throws and a layup by Cartwright plus a layup by Hazzard put UCI back in front 54-51 at 7:15. A hook from Jones (6:07) and a three-pointer by Leonard would end the streak at 5:25 putting UCI up by eight (59-51)
>A dunk by Galloway from a pass by Leonard (61-57) was followed by a Galloway block on the other end at 2:18
>A driving baseline reverse layup by Cartwright at 1:28 gave the Anteaters a 69-63 lead
>A defensive layup by Galloway on the other end resulted in an offensive board by Galloway and another dunk with 41 seconds left (71-63)
>UCI went on to secure the 75-67 win
 
HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER ON TONIGHT'S WIN
"I'm really excited that we were able to win the game tonight and give ourselves a chance to play for a Championship. I'm proud of my team. I would also like to credit Long Beach, they are a difficult match-up for us and they played really well especially in the first half. But our depth wore them down and I am pleased with the poise we showed when we were down and how we were able to come back and tie it and eventually get ahead."

NOTES
>The Anteaters advance to their third-straight Big West Championship game
>UCI is 10-3 when trailing at halftime
>UCI has had two or fewer threes two other times this season
>Jonathan Galloway has played 143 consecutive games
>Leonard has nine consecutive games with a three-pointer
>It's the eighth time Cartwright has posted double-figure points
>Leonard has made 33 straight free throws