IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine capped the regular season with an 86-74 win over CSUN in front of a raucous crowd of over 3,000 at the Bren Events Center, Saturday night.
 
The Anteaters finish with a 15-1 Big West record, tying the program best set in 2000-01 and extends its winning streak to 13, which also ties the school mark set by that 2000-01 team. UCI is 27-5 overall, it's best regular-season record in program history.
 
CSUN is 13-19 and 7-9 in conference play.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Guard Evan Leonard topped the Anteaters with 17 points
>Guard Max Hazzard followed with 16 points, hitting 4-11 from long range and dished out five assists
>Forward Tommy Rutherford went 5-9 from the floor and finished with 10 points and eight rebounds
>Forward Jonathan Galloway had a game-high 11 rebounds to go with eight points and two blocks
> Senior Elston Jones finished with eight points and eight boards while senior Spencer Rivers tied a career-high eight points
> UCI's bench out-scored CSUN's 40-19 while the Anteaters dominated the paint, 46-36, and rebounds, 48-42
> The 'Eaters shot 46.6 percent overall and held the Matadors to 39.1 percent (27-69) from the floor
 
FIRST HALF
 > UCI held a slight 12-11 lead at 13:43
>An Elston Jones layup started an 23-6 run that was capped by back to back threes from Hazzard opening a 29-17 lead at 9:45
>Two more three-pointers, one by Robert Cartwright (8:10) and another by Evan Leonard at 4:22 extended the Anteater lead to 20 (43-23)
>The Matadors would get no closer than 14 in the first half as UCI would head to the locker room with a 49-33 advantage
 
SECOND HALF
>A 7-2 run by CSUN would eat in to the UCI lead (59-44) at 14:12
> UCI gained its largest advantage of the night, 66-44, when JC Butler made a layup at 11:47
>Back-to-back three-pointers by Darius Brown II capped a 10-3 CSUN run that narrowed the UCI lead to 76-65 at 5:31
>A Jonathan Galloway dunk and free throw stopped the momentum and put the Anteaters up 79-65 (2:32)
>UCI would close the game with seven free throws and win 86-74

HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER ON TONIGHT'S WIN
"It's satisfying to win tonight but we are still hungry and we know that the most critical time to well way is still in front of us. I'm really proud of this senior group for the team they have created. We've grown together and gotten better and these guys are all committed to one another. There's great belief in our locker room in what we can accomplish." 
 
NOTES
>Jonathan Galloway became the UCI all-time leader in wins with 94 surpassing video coordinator Alex Young
>UCI has claimed the Big West regular season title for the fourth time in the last six years and sixth time overall
>Galloway increased his school record rebound total to 944
> UCI swept the home and away series with the Matadors and won its 10^th-straight against CSUN
> The Anteaters are 47-19 at the Bren in the last six years
> UCI honored four seniors, Robert Cartwright, Elston Jones, Spencer Rivers and Jonathan Galloway before the game tonight

UP NEXT
>UCI is the No. 1 seed at the Big West Tournament and will begin the postseason Thursday (Mar. 14) at 6:00 p.m. versus No. 8 UC Riverside at the Honda Center