IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine dropped a 62-57 decision to CSU Bakersfield in the second game of a two game Big West series, Saturday evening at the Bren Events Center.

With the loss, UCI splits the series with CSUB and drops to 6-2 in Big West play. The Anteaters fall to 10-6 on the season. CSUB improves to 12-7 overall and 8-4 in conference play.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Collin Welp finished with a team-best 14 points and eight rebounds. He also added two assists and a block
> Dawson Baker had nine points and a block while Isaiah Lee and Austin Johnson each added eight points
> DJ Davis led the 'Eaters with three assists
> UCI shot 44.2 percent (19-43) from the field while the 'Runners shot just 36.8 percent (21-57) overall. The 'Eaters went 5-12 (.417) from long range and 14-21 (.667) from the free throw line
> CSUB held a 37-31 advantage in rebounds while the 'Eaters held a 26-22 edge in paint points. UCI's bench outscored the visitors, 26-18
> The 'Runners' Justin McCall finished with a game-high 15 points while Ronne Readus grabbed nine rebounds

FIRST HALF
>The game started slowly, but Czar Perry would poke the ball away and drove in for a layup and was fouled to give CSUB the early 6-3 lead at 15:32
>Johnson would score on back-to-back trips down the floor to knot the score at 6-6 at 13:35
>UCI would take its first lead on a three-pointer by Davis and a layup by Welp, 11-8 (11:55)
>The Roadrunners would lead 21-20 before the Anteaters scored seven straight to go up 27-21 at 5:33
>Bakersfield would out-score UCI, 6-1 to close with 30-29 at 1:43
>Justin Edler Davis was fouled beyond the arc with two seconds remaining, hitting two to give CSUB a 31-30 lead at half

SECOND HALF
>The teams would remain close until CSUB went on an 8-2 run to take a 46-42 advantage at 10:33
>Baker drove to the basket, lost the ball then collected it and laid it up to bring UCI within 51-48 at 6:52. Baker was the only Anteater to score over a six minute stretch, adding three other points during that span
>Baker would then hit a three-pointer at 6:03 to tie the game at 51 all
>With just three seconds on the shot clock, CSUB's Shawn Stith knocked down a three-pointer from the inbound only to watch Welp counter with a three of his own to keep the score deadlocked at 56-56 at 2:47
>Baskets by Tarze Moore and Justin McCall on either side of a free throw by Jeron Artest gave the Roadrunners the 60-57 advantage with 1:13 remaining
>After UCI missed a layup, the Anteaters were forced to foul and Stith made both free throws with seven seconds left for the final 62-57 final score

QUOTE FROM HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER
"It was a physical game and I feel like they came out as the more physical team and I give a lot of credit to Bakersfield. I feel like our guys were more on edge and ready in last night's game than they were tonight and Bakersfield out-played us. We are not at a stage yet to beat a team like Bakersfield without giving our best effort. I think our guys gave effort tonight but we didn't have the same edge that we did last night."

UP NEXT
> UCI begins a two game road series at UC Riverside Feb. 12-13. Friday will tip at 4 p.m. while Saturday's game will start a 9 p.m. on ESPNU

Notes: UCI drops its first home contest of the season ... The home loss was the first since Dec. 7, 2019 ... Collin Welp led the 'Eaters in scoring in both games of the series ... It was UCI's first loss to CSUB under head coach Russell Turner