‘Eaters Cruise Past La Sierra, 104-54

Wednesday, December 2

Irvine, Calif.

6:00 PM

UC Irvine

2-2,0-0Big West

104

La Sierra

0-1

Team	1	2	F
La Sierra	24	30	54
UC Irvine	51	53	104

‘Eaters Cruise Past La Sierra, 104-54

December 02, 2020 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Sarah Zetlmeisl

IRVINE, Calif. – Dawson Baker had a career-high 21 points in UC Irvine's 104-54 win over La Sierra, Wednesday night in the Bren Events Center.

With the win, UCI improves to 2-2 on the season. The Golden Eagles dropped to 0-1 overall.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Baker's 21 points were also a game-high. Four additional 'Eaters scored in double-digits including Collin Welp (14 points), Brad Greene (11), Jeron Artest (11) and JC Butler (11)
> Butler also had a team-high nine rebounds while Baker totaled four steals
> UCI shot 55.9 percent (38-68) from the floor and held La Sierra to just 39.6 percent (18-48) shooting overall and 29.2 percent (7-24) from long range
> The Anteaters held advantages in paint points (58-12), bench points (47-12) and points off turnovers (37-13). UCI also held an 18-6 advantage in steals
> Uriel Lejtman led the Golden Eagles with 15 points

FIRST HALF
>La Sierra held an early 9-6 advantage before the Anteaters used a jumper by Welp and a layup by Butler to take over the lead, 10-9 at 13:45
>The teams would trade points until UCI got on a roll, scoring 12 straight on a three-pointer by Artest, jumper by Butler, layup by Greene, a three by Welp and free throws by Greene and Isaiah Lee, 25-14 at 8:07
>Following a timeout, UCI went on a 15-0 run in a span of 2:44, bolstered by the play of Baker with two steals, five points and an assist
>The Anteaters would score the final nine points of the half, including five more from Baker and lead 51-24

SECOND HALF
>A three-pointer and another jumper by Artest gave UCI the 58-26 lead at 17:41
>A 9-4 spurt by La Sierra narrowed the margin to 35-62 at 14:53
>A 10-0 run which was part of a 12-2 span gave the 'Eaters a 78-42 lead at 8:03. The run included six free throws, two each by Austin Johnson, Jayce Catchings and Emmanuel Tshimanga
>A jumper and three-pointer by Ofure Ujadughele put the Anteaters up by 40 (87-47) at 4:51
>DJ Davis would knock down a jumper at 1:13 to give UCI 100 points for the second consecutive game (100-52)
>Catchings would then close out the scoring with a streaking layup and made free throw for the 100-54 final

Quote from Dawson Baker
"It was a great opportunity for me to start today. I just tried to focus on my defensive play today and I think in turn that helped me with my offensive game."

Notes: Dawson Baker and Andre Henry both had their first career starts tonight … Baker also had a career high four steals … UCI reached the century mark for the second straight game … With tonight's win, head coach Russell Turner is now tied for the most active career wins in the Big West

UP NEXT
> UCI will travel to USC for a non-conference game Tuesday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m.