IRVINE, Calif. – A balanced scoring effort and traditional stiff defensive performance helped UC Irvine defeat CSU Bakersfield, 57-52 at the Bren Events Center Thursday.

SIx Anteater players had six or more points, led by forward Austin Johnson's 11 points. The junior also had a team-high five rebounds and four blocked shots.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Johnson went 4-6 from the floor and 3-3 from the line
>Collin Welp had nine points and matched Johnson with five rebounds
>Guard Dawson Baker had nine points, going 4-10 from the floor
>JC Butler had eight points, hitting the game's only three-pointer followed by Justin Hohn with seven points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals
>DJ Davis added six points, on the strength of 4-4 from the line to go with four rebounds
>CSUB had four players in double-digit scoring, led by Dalph Panopio with 15. Cameron Smith had 13 and Shawn Stith and Justin Elder-Davis each had 10
>UCI held a 32-29 advantage on the boards
>UCI ended the night shooting 20-46 from the field (43.5%), while CSUB was 21-54 (38.9%)
>UCI took advantage of the line, going 16-22 to the Roarunners' 10-15

FIRST HALF
>Austin Johnson recorded a layup from a nice dish by Dawson Baker (19:44) then muscled up a layup and was fouled (19:02) to get UCI out to a quick 5-0 start
>UCI continued to be aggressive with 10 of their 12 points coming in the paint, 12-4. JC Butler had a driving layup (16:10) and Emmanuel Tshimanga (14:43) had a lay-in down low.
>CSUB scored six straight, four from the free throw line, to close to 12-10 (13:03) before Ofure Ujadughele stopped the streak with a driving layup at 12:41
>A 7-2 run by the Roadrunners gave CSUB its first lead of the game at 10:47, 17-16
>Andre Henry drove baseline (7:28) and Butler hit a three-pointer from the left corner (6:17) to move UCI back in front, 26-20
>The Roadrunners would score six unanswered and knot the score at 26-26 (3:13)
>After going dry for four minutes UCI got a jumper from Collin Welp, 28-26
>CSUB's Dalph Panopio would hit a pull up jumper with 26 seconds left to end the scoring and send the teams to the half tied at 28-28
>UCI scored 18 points in the paint compared to CSUB's 6. CSU Bakersfield capitalized on 12 second chance points.

SECOND HALF
>CSUB came out of the break quickly with four points until Baker drove to the hoop on back-to- back possessions, the last time drawing the block and making the free throw, 33-32 (18:12)
>Tshimanga cleared the way for Hohn to drive along the baseline, 38-36 (14:30)
>Baker hit a high-arching, floating layup (11;22) followed by Welp driving through traffic and laying it in (10:37),giving UCI the 42-39 lead
>Welp capped a 6-0 spurt when he was found all alone under the hoop and earned the basket on a goaltend, 44-39 (10:37)
>CSUB would tie the game at 47-47 with 4:10 remaining out-scoring UCI 8-3
>Baker stopped at the free throw line for a jumper at 1:32 (55-52)
>Davis snagged an offensive rebound and was fouled with 23.7 to go. He made both to give UCI a 57-52 cushion
>The Roadrunners would get off two shots before Davis would grab the ball to end the game

HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER SAID
"I feel great that we found a way to win a hard-fought, close game and that so many guys contributed. That's what has always made us, us. Being able to win those games, the tough, ugly games. I don't think we played our best, the credit that to Bakersfield. We made the plays down the stretch we had to make."

"Credit to Austin Johnson for the free throws he hit. Those were tough free throws to make in a one- point game with a couple minutes left."

NOTES
>The teams were a combined 1-24 from three-point distance
>UCI improves to 5-0 when holding opponents scoring under 60
>First time this year Johnson led team in scoring
>The Anteaters are 5-1 at home and snap a three-game losing streak

UP NEXT
UCI will host Cal Poly Saturday (Jan. 29) at 6:00 p.m. at the Bren Events Center