LOGAN, Utah – UC Irvine and Utah State were locked in an impressive shooting affair until the Aggies pulled way in the second half for a 79-69 victory at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Saturday evening.  

UC Irvine shot 58.6 percent (17-29) from the floor in the first half but went 10-28 (35.7%) in second half. The Aggies shot 50.8 percent for the game (30-59), improving from 50 percent in the first 20 minutes (16-32) to 51.9 percent in the second (14-27). 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> UCI was led by guard Justin Hohn with a game high 21 points
> This was Hohn's second 20-point performance of his career
> Forward Dean Keeler posted a career best 15 points on the night
> Guard Derin Saran rounded out the double figure scoring effort for the Anteaters with his 11 points
> Saran was the team leader off the glass with seven rebounds
> Guard Pierre Crockrell II dished out eight assists, his season best
> Forward Devin Tillis had seven points and three rebounds
> Carter Welling, a Utah native, had eight points on the strength of 4-5 shooting at the line
> The game saw 15 lead changes with 13 of them happening in the first half
> Utah State was led by redshirt freshman Mason Falslev with 19 points on 8-12 shooting from the floor and 3-4 from three-point range   

FROM HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER
"It was a good basketball game. I told the guys in the locker room that I scheduled a tough assignment in this team. Our toughness got challenged in this game. It felt to me that we could that we were on the road for a long time. The atmosphere of this home arena felt different than anything we have played in this year. You could feel that they had a lot of the competitive advantage tonight."

"Dean [Keeler] was terrific tonight. I was really happy and proud of him. He is just an incredible teammate. I thought that him coming off the bench into the game, having greater energy after those first couple plays in both halves, helped him. He was very poised. I thought he was really committed to the plays that he made."

FIRST HALF
> The Anteaters were the first on the board and scored 12 before the first media timeout at 15:44 with 10 of them courtesy of Justin Hohn, 15-12
> Devin Tillis forced a turnover and found Dean Keeler in the paint for the authority slam (13:51), 17-15
> Tremendous offense and defense helped to keep the Anteaters ahead of the Aggies at 11:01, 23-21. Guard Derin Saran fearlessly fought his way around the court to add seven points in a three-minute span.
> Utah State crept back in front with a three-point advantage before Hohn knocked down a triple to tie the game 27-27 at 7:43
> A Tillis floater (6:38) followed by another Keeler jam (5:22) and o-board put-in for Saran (4:47), kept UCI ahead 34-31
> The Aggies nailed a three-pointer (1:22) in response to the one Tillis hit (1:42) the possession prior to take the one-point advantage into the break, 42-41

SECOND HALF
> A Carter Welling layup and free throw gave UCI a 44-43 lead but it was short lived as the Aggies scored the next six to open a 49-44 lead at 16:24
> Keeler converted on the and-one opportunity to narrow UCI's deficit to two (51-53) at
> The Aggies answered with the next 11 to break open a 66-51 advantage (9:27)
> Utah State led 74-61 before the Anteaters began to chip away on a C. Welling layup (4:43), Pierre Crockrell II pull-up jumper (2:57) and Saran layup (2:04), 67-74
> Utah State scored five of the final seven points to win 79-69

UP NEXT
UCI will face NCAA runner-up San Diego State in a Saturday (Dec. 9) night showdown in San Diego.