CORVALLIS, Ore. – RV UC Irvine could not fend off Oregon State's offense as the Anteaters suffered their first loss of the season, 67-55, inside Gill Coliseum Saturday afternoon.
 
The Anteaters matched their season-high 13 steals in a game to disrupt the Beaver attack which held OSU to 10 points under their season average.
 
Justin Hohn was the only UCI player to reach double figures with 10 points which includes two three-pointers.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Forward Devin Tillis contributed nine points and seven rebounds
> Both Myles Che and Torian Lee tallied eight points
> Che dished out a team-high three assists
> Lee posted a career night in points scored, steals (4), field goals made and attempted (3-5), and rebounds (2)
> Guard Jurian Dixon scored six points including a three-pointer in his first career start
> Ofure Ujadughele stole the ball three times for the second consecutive game and third time in 2024
> OSU won the glass battle, 37-27
> Oregon State was paced by Damarco Minor's 19 points on 5-12 shooting from the floor with three triples and perfect 6-6 shooting from the line

FIRST HALF
> Justin Hohn drove to the lane at 18:29 to put UC Irvine on the board, but Oregon State followed that by 11 unanswered to go ahead 14-2 (15:13)
> Hohn continued to carry the load in the early part of the first half as he knocked down a triple (14:48) out of the timeout then dumped the ball down to Kyle Evans (14:05) who made the shot at the post to cut the deficit to 14-7
> The Anteaters strung together a 7-0 run over a 1:21 span that saw a Myles Che pass through the paint down to Devin Tillis, an inbound lob up to Hohn at the top of the arc for three, and Evans layup to draw within two, 21-19 (7:30)
> In a game of runs, the Beavers shot out to a six-point lead (30-24) at 3:32 before Torian Lee (3:26) and Che (1:52) both hit the three-ball to tie the game 30-all
> OSU put away the final two scores of the half to lead 34-30 into the intermission
> After falling behind early, UCI climbed back into the game, scoring 18 points off 12 Beaver turnovers in the first 20 minutes
> UC Irvine did not allow OSU to reach the free throw line in the first half
 
SECOND HALF
> Oregon State opened the second half on a 9-2 run where the Anteaters saw their points come from two makes at the charity stripe from Che, 43-32 (16:10)
> The big men went to work as Leuchten went up for the rebound put-back (15:42) and backed down the defense (13:31) while Tillis received the ball down low (12:30) from Berk Can Akin before driving down the open lane (11:50), 48-40
> UC Irvine brought the game back within seven points twice, the first on Lee's triple and then again when Akin pulled up for the jumper, 54-47 (9:04)
> Only three total points were scored over a three-and-a-half-minute span due to strong defense on both sides as all scores happened at the line, 59-49 (4:48)
> Jurian Dixon knocked down the three in front of the Anteater bench with 22 seconds left on the clock to bring it to a 10-point game, but two Beaver free throws with nine seconds remaining sealed their win, 67-55
 
NOTES
> UC Irvine has forced 20+ turnovers in back-to-back games
> UCI dropped their first road game since the loss in the NIT First Round to Utah on Mar. 19
> Devin Tillis is now 16 rebounds away from reaching the 500-rebound club
> Justin Hohn sits six steals away from entering the career steals leaderboard

UP NEXT
UC Irvine stays on the road for a two-game stint on the East Coast with the first stop at Belmont on Dec. 19.