LETHBRIDGE, Alberta – Gritty Anteater defense along with a dominating offensive performance from Bent Leuchten led UC Irvine to a 51-39 victory over Kent State Friday evening.
 
The center poured in a game high 17 points where he shot 4-6 (0.667) from the field and a game high 9-11 (0.818) from the free throw line. Leuchten pulled down eight boards, recorded two steals, assisted on a basket, and blocked a shot.
 
UCI, who ranks 26th in the NCAA in scoring defense, limited the Golden Flashes offense to a season low 39 points. The last time the Anteaters limited an opponent to fewer than 40 points was in the 63-37 triumph of UC Riverside on February 15, 2006.
 
In back-to-back games, UC Irvine has held their opponents to under 20 percent from three-point range as Kent State went 4-27 (0.148) from beyond the arc. Additionally, the Golden Flashes shot 22.6 percent from the floor (14-62), a season low from an Anteater opponent.
 
UC Irvine moves to 7-0 on the year with the win which marks the program's best start since the 1980-81 season where they won nine straight to open their campaign.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Forward Devin Tillis remained active on the glass with 11 rebounds
> Tillis poured in eight points and recorded two dimes
> Four players finished with six points: Justin Hohn, Andre Henry, Myles Che, and Kyle Evans
> Both Henry and Hohn grabbed six boards
> Che nailed the only two Anteater triples in the contest
> Evans was energetic on defense providing three blocks and two rebounds
> UC Irvine crashed the boards to hold the 42-32 rebounding advantage
> 51 points is a season low for the Anteaters
> UCI pulled off their second-best performance at the free throw line at a 86.4 rate (19-22)
> Kent State had two players recorded a team high seven points, both made two shots from the field

FIRST HALF
> Bent Leuchten kicked off the scoring and put up the first four for the Anteaters with a fadeaway spin in the paint at 18:23 and a pair of shots from the line at 15:47 before Kyle Evans (14:03) scored the third basket of the game to push the lead to 6-3
> UCI's only score over the next seven minutes came from two Jurian Dixon (10:08) free throws until Justin Hohn collected the loose ball for a coast-to-coast driving layup at 6:55 (10-9)
> Kent State tied the game at 5:51 when they hit their third three-pointer of the night following a pair of Leuchten free throws, 12-12
> The Anteaters scored nine unanswered on two Hohn free throws, a layup by Devin Tillis, a free throw by Leuchten, two from Tillis at the stripe and capped by Andre Henry finding Leuchten all alone under the basket for a layup, 23-14 with 37 seconds remaining
> A Kent State jumper with nine seconds left ended the scoring, 23-16
 
SECOND HALF
> Second half action was kick-started by a kick out to Myles Che (19:39) who fired from three-point range before the Golden Flashes put away four points, 26-20 at 18:52
> The Anteater offense outscored KSU 6-3 over the next two and a half minutes on a near two-handed slam from Leuchten (18:34), Tillis (16:38) backing down to defense for the turnaround shot, and Henry (16:04) knocking down his two shots from the line, 32-23
> An offensive rebound grab from Henry who then elevated for the put-back and a pull-up trey from Che forced Kent State to regroup at 13:37, 37-23
> The Golden Flashes closed with seven points three times, the last at 5:02, to bring the game to 44-37
> Hohn had the last basket for either team with 54 seconds remaining as he drove to the hoop and action closed with two of three free throw makes from Kent State (0:46), 51-39
 
NOTES
> UC Irvine remains the lone undefeated team in California after the result of Friday evening's games
> Seven wins is good for the nations third longest win streak
> The Anteaters have held five of their seven opponents to 60 points or less

UP NEXT
UCI closes out the Western Slam with CAA preseason favorite Towson at 6:30 p.m. PT on Saturday Nov. 30.