SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Guard Dawson Baker scored six of UCI's last seven points to lift the Anteaters to a 59-56 victory over Cal Poly at Mott Athletic Center Monday evening. 
 
The Anteaters win their fifth straight to improve to 20-8 overall and 13-3 in the Big West. 
 
Baker led all players with 20 points, his third 20-point performance of the season. Baker scored 13 of his points in the second half, going 5-9 from the field. For the game, he went 6-14 from the floor and was perfect from the line, 6-6.  
 
As a team, UCI shot 50 percent from the floor (13-26) and 4-5 from the line (80.0) in the second half. 
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Forward Dean Keeler was impressive off the bench with 11 points, going 3-6 from the field and 5-5 from the line
>Keeler also had five rebounds
>Guard Justin Hohn added six points on 3-6 shooting
>Guard Pierre Crockrell II put up eight points and six assists
>Andre Henry had a team-high seven rebounds to go with three points
>Henry ties his season high in boards (7) that was first set on Jan. 7, 2023, against Long Beach State
>Alimamy Koroma (15) and Camren Pierce (14) led Cal Poly (7-22, 1-16) offensively
 
FROM HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER
"Really pleased to leave here with a win tonight. A lot of guys contributed, and I am pleased and relieved. We must be an aggressive defensive team and we were able to do that down the stretch. Our team showed resilience and togetherness tonight and enough to win."

FIRST HALF
>On the Anteaters' first possession, Pierre Crockrell II found Baker beyond the arc for three at 19:56
>Bent Leuchten dished the ball to JC Butler across the paint for a layup at 18:54 then Butler would hit a free throw to put UCI up 6-0 (18:17)
>Cal Poly finally got on the board with a dunk at 17:33, 6-2
>Andre Henry drove into the paint for a jumper at 14:45, 8-2
>The Mustangs would score the next five before Dean Keeler would lay it in from a Justin Hohn pass and was fouled making the subsequent free throw, 11-7 (12:53)
>Hohn beat the shot clock with a driving one-handed floater, 13-7 (12:21)
>Cal Poly had one second on the shot clock when Nick Fleming had a three-pointer at 11:55 to stay close, 13-10
>Keeler took the inbound right to the basket, 15-10 (11:21)
>A 5-0 spurt by the Mustangs, including four by Alimamy Koroma would tie the score at 15-15
>Baker knocked down a pair from the line to regain control 17-15 (8:27)
>UCI would miss eight consecutive shots, while Cal Poly would hit five free throws to take a 20-19 lead at 4:22
>Ofure Ujadughele stopped the almost five-minute scoreless span with two from the free throw line only to watch Cal Poly hit a three-pointer next time down the court
>A Crockrell II reverse layup knotted the score at 23-23
>Keeler battled for a rebound and was fouled, hitting two at 1:52, 25-25
>The Mustangs scored six unanswered before Keeler returned to the stripe for two to close out the half with UCI trailing 27-31 
 
SECOND HALF
>Crockrell II started the half with a layup before Cal Poly went on an 10-2 run to expand the advantage to 41-31 forcing a UCI timeout at 17:46
>Baker would bury a three-pointer from the left side at 16:41, 34-41
>Hohn attacked the rim for a layup, 36-41 (15:58)
>After a Mustang basket (14:46), Keeler muscled it in (14:21) and Crockrell II had a driving layup (13:57) to close within 40-43
>Cal Poly's Brantly Stevenson hit two three pointers, sandwiching Crockrell II's threading the needle play to Devin Tillis for a layup and free throw, 43-49 (12:43)
>Hohn had a layup (9:55) then Leuchten drained a three (9:11) to close the gap to 50-51
>Crockrell II attempted to pass but the ball was batted back to him and he went in for a layup down the lane to give UCI the 52-51 lead (6:26)
>Cal Poly would go scoreless for seven and a half  minutes until Koroma had a layup and was fouled at 2:33 to move the Mustangs back in front 54-52
>Baker kept UCI in the game with two baskets, the last off the glass, 56-56 at 1:32
>Baker cut baseline on a Crockrell II pass for the layup with 28 seconds left (58-56)
>Following a CP 30-second timeout, Henry grabbed a rebound and was fouled making the first of two shots from the line, 59-56 with nine seconds left
>Two Cal Poly threes bounced long as time expired with UCI winning, 59-56 
 
NOTES
>UC Irvine is the first Big West team to reach 13 conference wins
>The Anteaters fifth consecutive win ties their longest streak of five that stretched from Dec. 31, 2022-Jan. 14, 2023
>UC Irvine has earned its 13^th 20-win season in program history and the eighth under head coach Russell Turner
>The 'Eaters improve to 9-0 on the season when holding their opponent to under 60 points, five of them coming from conference contests
>Baker has recorded double-digit points in 23 consecutive games, 27 on the season, and 49 in his career to average 15.4 points a game (16.8 in conference)
>Baker surpassed 900-career points with his 20-point effort and sits now with 910 career tallies
>Keeler posted his third double figure performance of his career
>UC Irvine improves to 13-1 when Crockrell II dishes out five or more assists
>UCI's 0.889 (16-18) clip from the free throw line is a season best
>The Anteaters are tied with Cal State Fullerton for the longest win streak in the conference with five each
 
UP NEXT
UC Irvine will return home to host UC San Diego Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at the Bren Events Center.