SANTA CLARA, Calif. – UC Irvine (7-4) fell to Santa Clara (10-3) 86-74 due to red hot three-point shooting from the Broncos.
SCU made eight baskets from range (8-13, 0.615) in the second half to secure their fate in the contest.
Hohn led the Anteaters with 14 points on 5-9 shooting from the field and 3-6 behind the arc.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Guard Dawson Baker co-led UCI with 14 points
>Baker shot at a 0.500 clip from three-point range
>Pierre Crockrell II tied his season best eight points on 4-9 shooting while dishing out two assists
>Big men Bent Leuchten and Dean Keeler led the team in board with six and five respectively
>Four Anteaters would post six point efforts- Leuchten, DJ Davis, JC Butler, and Chazz Hutchison
>Keeler recorded the lone block in the contest
>Santa Clara was led by Carlos Stewart with 29 points on 8-12 shooting, 5-7 from range, and 8-9 at the charity stripe
HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER SAID
"Credit to Santa Clara for rising up and showing the toughness and fortitude that they needed when we had big leads in the first and second halves and they raised their level of play. We were not able to do that. I was pleased with the way we played and I think we were really good at certain points in the game. We have shown the ability with this group to be a great three-point defense team and we were not able to tonight."
FIRST HALF
>Santa Clara would knock down the first two points of the game at 19:28 before Pierre Crockrell II would even it out with his jump shot in the paint at 19:06, 2-2
>The Broncos added a lay-in and free throw (18:55, 18:22), but Dawson Baker brought it within one on his second chance attempt that led into the media break, 4-5
>JC Butler gave the Anteaters their first lead of the game with his shot from range (14:29) off a SCU turnover and Chazz Hutchison would add a basket off a pass from Justin Hohn at 13:04, 9-6
>The two squads exchanged baskets prior to Andre Henry's go ahead three-point jumper, 14-10 (10:40)
>Santa Clara got called for goaltending at 10:10 and 8:27 to add to the UCI advantage, 21-15
>DJ Davis scored his 600th career point on his first made free throw (7:18) and would help UCI go on a 7-2 run with his bucket from behind the arc (5:39), 28-21
>The Anteaters went up by as much as 11 with 3:49 remaining off Baker's three from Crockrell II who then stole the ball for a fast break lay-up, 33-22
>Two consecutive three-point baskets (2:09, 1:35) from Santa Clara would bring them within one, 35-34
>Davis (1:32), Hutchison (1:24), and Baker (0:42) all chipped in to keep the edge headed into the second period, 41-37
SECOND HALF
>UC Irvine controlled the narrative at the start of the final period when the Broncos were forced to call a timeout after Devin Tillis (19:42) and Baker (18:44) would drain their treys, 47-37
>Santa Clara would drop in two baskets to decrease the lead, but Bent Leuchten tipped the ball in at 16:37 for the second chance points, 49-41
>The Broncos completed the same series prior before Dean Keeler dumped one in the basket off the post, 51-45 (14:36)
>Hohn scored the Anteaters next five points on two fast break lay-ups (14:16, 13:53) followed by the and one attempt at the line, 56-45
>SCU went on a 7-0 run until Butler hit his second bucket from distance on the night, 59-53 (11:26)
>Santa Clara tied the game twice and reclaimed their lead with 9:22 left, 61-62
>The Broncos would make three consecutive to jet out their advantage, 68-82 (2:52)
>Hohn scored the Anteaters last six points of the night on three-point jumpers (1:22, 0:32), 74-84
NOTES
>Three Anteaters shot perfect from the line (Davis 3-3, Leuchten 2-2, Hohn 1-1)
>Baker recorded his 10th double figure scoring effort of the season, sixth consecutive
>For the 14th time in his career, Baker led the team in scoring
>DJ Davis has made at least one three-pointer in his last 14 games played, all 11 this season
>Davis has now made 12 straight from the charity stripe
>Both teams made the same amount of field goals, 28
UP NEXT
UC Irvine will complete their non-conference slate at the Bren Events Center on Tuesday Dec. 20 with a 7 p.m. start.
