HENDERSON, Nev. – The Orange County rivalry was present in the physical battle between No. 1 seeded UC Irvine and No. 4 seeded Cal State Fullerton. In a game that saw six ties, the Titans prevailed 83-80 in the semifinals of the Hercules Tires Big West Championships presented by The Hawaiian Islands at the Dollar Loan Center. 
 
UCI shot 26-50 (.520) from the floor, their 11^th game this season shooting above a .500 clip in a contest.
 
The double-headed snake of Dawson Baker and DJ Davis paced the Anteater offense, scoring 22 and 20 points respectively.
 
Baker went 6-12 from the floor and had nine makes from the charity stripe. His final two makes from the line lifted the junior into the 1,000-point club and eclipsed 500 season points.
 
Davis was a hot 5-8 (0.625) from beyond the arc and 5-6 from the free throw line. The guard's performance also helped him surpass 500-points this season.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Guard Pierre Crockrell II posted a season best 12 points on 6-8 shooting
>Devin Tillis led all players with seven grabs off the glass and was one point shy of hitting double figures (9)
>Redshirt senior JC Butler put up eight points on 3-6 shooting with two three-pointers
>Forward Dean Keeler blocked two shots and dished out a career-high three assists
>Both teams had 13 assists and 14 turnovers
>Neither team had an advantage off the boards, each grabbing 29 rebounds
>Cal State Fullerton was led by Latrell Wrightsell Jr. with 22 points on 7-12 shooting from the field and 3-5 from long range
 
FIRST HALF
>Cal State Fullerton opened the contest with the first five points
>Pierre Crockrell II got UCI on the board with a driving layup, 6-2
>Crockrell II blew down the lane at 17:34 to draw the Anteaters within 6-8
>Ofure Ujadughele muscled in a basket (15:17) before the Titans scored five straight to open a 17-9 lead
>JC Butler hit a three from the right side to stop the momentum, 12-17 (13:04)
>Following a Titan three, DJ Davis knocked down one of his own from deep, 15-20 (12:22)
>The teams would trade threes once again, Butler hitting another for UCI, 18-23 (11:16)
>Bent Leuchten was strong underneath the basket and recorded a rebound putback (9:52) before Butler had a fast break layup to draw within 22-23 (9:19)
>Devin Tillis recorded a three of his own to knot the score at 25-25 (8:54)
>Crockrell II hit a turnaround jumper (7:38) then CSUF went on a 7-1 run to open a 36-30 lead with 5:19 remaining
>UCI would use a free throw and layup by Dawson Baker followed by a three-pointer from the left-side by Davis to tie the game at 3:24, 36-36
> Both teams went quiet until Cal State Fullerton had a jumper and a free throw with 58 seconds to go before Davis had another deep three with two seconds remaining to close out the half, 39-39
>It was an offensive showdown with UCI hitting 14-23 (0.609) from the floor and CSUF, going 15-31 (0.484) 
 
SECOND HALF
>UCI went up 44-41 on a pair of Baker free throws (18:55)
>Titans would go on an 11-2 spurt to lead 52-46 at 16:53
>Crockrell II knocked down a jumper to keep UCI within six (52-58), 14:46
>A three-pointer and a pair of free throws for the Titans extended the lead to 62-53 just before the media timeout (12:01)
>A free throw by Hohn (11:35) and a three-pointer by Baker narrowed the margin to 57-62 at 10:59
>CSUF scored five in a row before a Crockrell II jumper, 59-67 (9:50)
>Davis hit a three to keep UCI close, only to watch the Titans answer with a three of their own 73-64 (7:22)
>Neither team would score until Baker took over with two free throws (5:45) and a quick layup (5:16) plus the extra free throw at 5:16 to close to 69-73
>Three Titan free throws (4:09) were followed by five unanswered by the Anteaters on a Davis free throw, a Tillis layup and two Baker free throws creeping to 74-76 with 2:39 remaining
>Two more Titans free throws (1:43) before Davis hit a three in the left corner,77-78 (1:33)
>Three CSUF free throws then two by Davis with 16 seconds left, 80-81
>Jalen Harris would hit a pair of free throws to keep CSUF up 83-80 with 10 seconds left
>The Anteaters lost the ball but recovered to get a jump ball leaving 2.1 for a last attempt
>The final shot fell short giving CSUF the 83-80 victory  
 
NOTES
>Dawson Baker was named to the Big West Championships All-Tournament Team
>Baker is the 32^nd Anteater to reach the 1,000-point club in a UC Irvine uniform and has 521 points on the season
>Davis sits 11^th all-time in UC Irvine history with 146 career made three-pointers. He needs six more makes to catch Daman Starring (2010-13) for 10^th with 152 triples.
>Both Baker (15.3) and Davis (15.2) are averaging over 15 points in a game
>Crockrell II's 170 assists in 2022-23 are good for fifth all-time in a single season. He is one more assist away from catching fourth
 
UP NEXT
UC Irvine is headed to their seventh postseason appearance under head coach Russell Turner, competing in the National Invitational Tournament that is scheduled to start March 14-15. The NIT bracket will be released on Sunday, March 12.