SAN DIEGO – For the second straight year, UC Irvine took No. 25/RV San Diego State down to the wire, but the Aztecs escaped again with a 63-62 victory over UC Irvine at Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena Saturday night.

SDSU scored the final six points of the game in the last minute of action, including a go-ahead layup by Micah Parrish with 11 seconds remaining.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Guard Justin Hohn led all players with 16 points
> Hohn went 6-13 for the floor, including a career best four makes from three-point distance
> Freshman guard Derin Saran exploded in the second half, recording five buckets on seven shots in 10 minutes
> Saran shot at a 0.600 clip (6-10) in the contest while also adding six rebounds and career high four steals
> Guard Pierre Crockrell II added to the offense with 10 points, all in the second half, his first double-figure scoring game of the season
> Crockrell II dished out three assists, a team best
> Guard Andre Henry had a team-best seven rebounds to go with six points
> Graduate student Dylan Thoerner went a season-best 4-4 at the free throw line
> UCI shot at a 0.404 clip from the floor (23-57), exploding with a 15-29 mark (0.517) in the final 20 minutes
> The Anteaters held a 30-18 advantage in points in the paint
> No. 25/RV San Diego State had a quartet of players with double-figure points led by Jay Pal's 15 points. Micah Parrish followed with 14 points. Reese Waters had 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds and Darrin Trammell added 10 points  

FIRST HALF
> Two straight triples from Justin Hohn (19:42, 19:00) and his shot that banked in off the glass at 17:56 frustrated the No. 25/RV San Diego State defense, forcing the Aztecs to call a timeout, 8-2
> Carter Welling converted on the and-1 opportunity after a deep SDSU triple to keep the Anteaters ahead 11-5 at 16:50
> The Aztecs went on an 8-0 run that saw two three-pointers and was halted by Dean Keeler's o-board put-in (12:32) to equalize the game, 13-13
> UCI faced a four and a half minute scoring drought that was extinguished with Derin Saran's triple at 7:06, 18-18
> UCI only hit free throws for four minutes until Andre Henry knocked down a three-pointer, 29-24 (2:05)
> San Diego State closed out the half with the final four points, 33-24 

SECOND HALF
> SDSU's Elijah Saunders scored seven points and UCI missed eight straight shots until Hohn drew the defender and dished to Crockrell II scored, 40-26
> UCI caught fire on an 8-0 run which featured a layup by Crockrell II, two free throws by Dylan Thoerner and two layups by Saran, closed the gap to five, 44-39 (12:59)
> A hanging floater by Crockrell II was followed by a steal and layup with Saran drawing the foul. The guard made the free throw before driving to the hoop to tie the game at 48-48 on the next possession and force a SDSU timeout at 8:48.
> Saran bounced off contact in the paint and got a basket to give UCI the lead at 7:43, 50-48
> Hohn drained a three then Crockrell II pulled up for a jumper at the free throw line to extend their lead to five, 55-50 (5:32)
> Hohn banked in a shot off the glass at 2:07 before SDSU would drain a second chance three-pointer, the Aztecs first field goal in over 13 minutes of action, 59-57
> The Anteaters answered with a step-back three-pointer from Hohn at the top of the arc, 62-57 (0:59)
> SDSU would make one of two free throws. After UCI couldn't convert on a pair at the line, Darrion Trammell hit a clutch three-pointer, 62-61 (0:30.5)
> The Aztecs stole the ball on the inbound then took an offense rebound to the hoop and make the basket where they got fouled to take the one-point lead, 63-62
> After a missed free throw from the Aztecs, UCI's final look fell short

UP NEXT
UC Irvine returns to the Bren Events Center for the first time in four weeks, taking on South Dakota, on Saturday Dec. 16 at 7 p.m.