IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine closed out the regular season with a 72-70 loss to CSUN at the Bren Events Center Wednesday.

UCI moves to 21-11 on the season and 13-3 in the Big West. CSUN improves to 14-17 overall and 9-6 in conference play. 

The Matadors shot 50 percent from the floor (27-54), including 7-14 from three-point distance, while UCI was 29-66 from the floor (43.9%) and just 8-22 from long range. The free throw line was the difference as the Matadors got the line 17 times, making 11, while the Anteaters were only 4-7.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Brad Greene record his ninth double-double to lead UCI. He went 6-9 from the floor and 2-5 from the line for 14 points, while pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds
>Senior Evan Leonard hit 5-10 from the field, including three threes to end with 13 points. He also had two blocks and a steal 
>Forward Collin Welp also had 13 points, hitting 3-3 from long range and recording seven rebounds
>Senior Tommy Rutherford added 12 points on 6-7 shooting from the field
>CSUN's Elijah Harkess had a game-high 30 points to go with seven rebounds. Lamine Diane added 18 points and a team-best eight rebounds
> UCI out-rebounded CSUN 38-32 and held advantages in bench points, 21-5, paint points, 34-24, and second chance points, 18-11

TURNING POINTS
FIRST HALF
>After Rutherford started the scoring, CSUN rattled off the next nine points, 9-2
>The Matadors would increase their lead to 20-4 at 13:14 before Welp hit a three-pointer and Isaiah Lee had a streaking layup to help UCI close to 20-9 at 12:19
>A 14-6 Anteater run narrowed the margin to 28-23 at 7:02. Leonard, Greene and Rutherford all had four points in the spurt
>A Greene free throw at 4:49 would get UCI to 28-24 before the Matadors would score the next five to move back out, 33-24 at 4:12
>UCI began to heat up as Austin Johnson hit a jumper that was followed by a three-pointer by Leonard (1.59) and another by Welp (1.24), 33-32
>Following a CSUN bucket, Worku drove down the lane drawing the defense then dished the ball back out to Welp who drained a three-pointer with three ticks on the clock to send the teams in to the locker rooms tied at 35-35

SECOND HALF
>UCI took its first lead of the game on a three-pointer by Worku at 19:14 (38-35)
>A triple by Leonard was followed by a jumper by John Edgar Jr. and a layup by Rutherford to give UCI a 45-38 advantage with 16:38 to play  
>An 11-4 spurt which was capped by a Diane dunk got the Matadors back in the game 55-53 with 10:35 to play
>Diane would score six points in an 8-2 CSUN run that gave the Matadors the 61-60 lead with 6:50 remaining
>A three by Leonard and a Greene layup gave UCI the 66-63 lead at 4:44 only to watch Brendan Harrick hit a three to tie the game at 66-66, 4:11
>A Collin Welp jumper gave UCI the lead momentarily before CSUN would score the next four, 72-68 with 1:18 to play
>Greene hit a basket with 53 second (72-70) the Diane was fouled but missed the free throw which was rebounded by Greene to give UCI the ball with 25 second left
>CSUN would have fouls to give and foul the Anteaters twice before UCI had two attempts from three to win the game before time expired

NOTES
>Eyassu Worku moved up to No. 5 all-time in UCI's career rebounds list with 415
>Two blocks is a career-high for Leonard 
>The loss snaps a six-game winning streak and a 13-straight Big West home streak
>It is the first loss to CSUN since 2014
>UCI honored seniors, Evan Leonard, Eyassu Worku, John Edgar Jr. and Tommy Rutherford before the game. The senior class has won 91 games and have captured the Big West regular season title three out of four years
>UCI clinched back-to-back outright regular season titles for the first time in program history

UP NEXT
>The Anteaters clinched the Big West Tournament No. 1 seed and will play the 6 p.m. game on Thursday (Mar. 12) at the Honda Center. UCI's quarterfinal opponent won't be determined until Saturday's slate of games is complete.