IRVINE, Calif. – Guard Dawson Baker poured in a career-high 33 points, but it wasn't enough as UC San Diego topped UC Irvine, 99-91 Thursday at the Bren Events Center. 
 
Baker went 10-21 from the floor and 10-11 from the free throw line to lead all players in 33 minutes of action. He scored 27 in the second half on his way to the most points scored by an Anteater player this season. 
 
UCI scored 62 second half points after trailing 47-29 at halftime.  
 
The Tritons went 15-36 from three-point distance. The 15 threes are the most by a UCI opponent this season and the 36 attempts by an opponent is a UC Irvine record. UCSD shot 48.4 percent from the field (30-62), 41.7 percent from the line (15-36) and 80 percent from the line (24-30). UCSD hit 18 free throws in the final five minutes of action.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Baker's 10 free throws were the most made by an Anteater at the line all season
>DJ Davis had 19 points on 6-20 shooting from the field including three three-pointers
>Davis went a perfect 4-4 at the charity stripe
>Guard Justin Hohn rounded out the double figure scorers with 10 points with two triples
>Chazz Hutchison had his first career start and went a perfect 3-3 from the field, brought down four rebounds, and dished out a career high two assists
>Guard Pierre Crockrell II put up eight points and 11 dimes
>Crockrell II was one shy of tying his career best seven rebounds, grabbing six off the glass against the Tritons
>Bent Leuchten had a team-high six rebounds to go with one block
>UC San Diego was led by Roddie Anderson III, recording 8-18 from the field including 6-11 from three-point range
 
FIRST HALF
>Chazz Hutchinson made the start and was active early dishing to Bent Leuchten down low (19:22) then leaping for a Pierre Crockrell II pass at the rim for a layup at 18:21, 4-0
>Tritons then out-scored UCI 10-3, which included two three-pointers to take a 10-7 lead at 15:05
>DJ Davis put a defender in the popcorn machine and hit a three at 13:25, to close to 12-13
>A jumper by Ofure Ujadughele (11:01) and a layup by Hutchinson (9:05), tied the game at 16-16
>UCSD then hit back-to-back threes to open an 22-16 advantage at 8:06
>The Tritons would hit consecutive threes before knocking down a jumper to expand the margin to 32-20 at 4:51
>A Davis trey (4:35) was followed by two more from long range and a layup by the Tritons, 40-23 (2:57)
>Ujadughele had an old fashioned three-point play (2:45) and Baker had one from beyond the arc with 23 seconds left, but the Anteaters would let the Bryce Pope score down the lane with two seconds remaining to give UC San Diego the 47-29 halftime lead
>UCSD shot 50 percent from the floor (16-32), including 10-20 from three-point distance in the first 20 minutes 
 
SECOND HALF
>Crockrell II found Hutchinson at the rim for the first score of the half at 18:19 (31-47)
>Two more Triton threes sandwiched around Baker free throws (17:08)
>Baker turned on the jets for a driving layup and free throw (17:00), a jumper (16:08) and another layup and free throw (15:22), 41-55
>UCSD would go on a 10-2 run which included six points by Pope before Justin Hohn hit a three-pointer (12:25) and JC Butler had a reverse layup (11:58) and Andre Henry jumper (11:27), 48-65
>UCI rallied on a 6-2 spurt, two Crockrell II layups, 58-72
>Davis would take over, hitting two free throws (7:58) then launching from long range and the ball caromed right back to for another try that he didn't miss the second time (7:01),  a jumper (6:19) then two more frees to narrow the margin to 67-83 with 4:40 remaining
>UCI came alive once again on a Dean Keeler layup (2:39) followed by a steal and layup by Hohn (2:26) and three up top by Baker (2:13), 76-85
>Following a Triton free throw, Baker hit a fallaway jumper and was fouled and made the extra point then stole the ball and was fouled making two more at the line  to close within 80-86 with 1:42 left
>UCSD had two from the free throw line before Baker used a Keeler screen to knock down another three at 1:30, 84-88
>Davis would disrupt the inbound pass causing a UCSD turnover only to watch the Tritons steal it right back and get fouled hitting the first of six consecutive free throws (:45)
>Baker had a layup (0:40) before a Triton free throw that was followed by a Hohn three (0:27), 89-95
>Two more UC San Diego free throws went in before Hohn had a layup (0:16)
>UCSD would end the contest with two more free throws (0:03) for the 99-91 UC San Diego victory 
 
NOTES
>The last time UC Irvine scored 90 or more points in a contest was against Chapman on Nov.7, 2022
>UC San Diego earned their first ever win in Irvine
>Dawson Baker is the second Anteater to record a 30-point effort this season,
>Baker has recorded double-digit points in 24 consecutive games, 28 on the season, and 50 in his career to average 16.0 points a game (17.8 in conference)
>Baker is now 57 points away from reaching the 1,000-career point milestone
>Davis now sits 15^th all-time in UC Irvine history with 130 career made three-pointers and is tied with assistant coach Alex Young (2012-2016) for 15^th. He needs one more make to catch Chris McNealy (2010-14) for 14^th, two makes to catch Rod Palmer (1988-90) for 13^th, and four to catch Nic Campbell (2003-07) for 12^th.
>Davis has made at least one three-pointer in his 28 games played this season, averaging 2.4 a game
>UC Irvine drops to 13-2 when Crockrell II dishes out five or more assists
>Crockrell II had his four double figure assist game on the season and is averaging 5.3 dimes a game
>UCI's 0.938 (15-16) clip from the free throw line is a season best

UP NEXT
UCI travels to Hawaii for 5:00 p.m. PT game Saturday (Feb. 25). The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.