FULLERTON, Calif. – UC Irvine dominated Cal State Fullerton on the glass to beat the Titans 81-71, closing out the regular season at Titan Gym on Saturday.

The Anteaters out-rebounded the Titans 41-20 and owned a 19-3 advantage in second chance points with 13 offensive rebounds.

Forward Devin Tillis pulled down a game-high ten rebounds followed by Bent Leuchten with eight and Justin Hohn's seven.

Leuchten led all players with 17 points, going 5-9 (0.556) from the floor and 7-8 (0.875) from the line in addition to a block.

Another key was the free throw line with the Anteaters hitting 19-25 (0.760), while CSUF was 8-14 (0.571).

UCI improves to 24-8 overall and ends the Big West schedule with a league-leading 17-3 record. The Anteaters extended their winning streak to four.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Tillis was 5-6 from the floor and 3-6 from the line for 13 points to record his third double double of the season
> Hohn also totaled 13 points on 5-12 shooting from the field, including 3-5 from three-pointer distance
> Guard Andre Henry rounded out the scorers in double-digits with 10 points
> Guard Derin Saran was a perfect 4-4 from the line and shot 2-4 from the field, ending the night with eight points
> Dean Keeler and Dylan Thoerner each added six points
> Cal State Fullerton (14-18, 7-13) was led by Dominic Brewton's game-high 28 points on 13-19 (0.684) from the floor, including a pair of threes
>The Anteaters shot 50% from the floor (28-56), while the Titans were 28-57 (0.491)

FIRST HALF
> Two second chance baskets from Bent Leuchten courtesy of his aggression off the glass pushed the UC Irvine advantage to 8-4 at 16:49
> The Titans would catch the Anteaters at 9-9 then with UCI leading 11-10, Justin Hohn had a driving layup down the paint then a jumper to move UCI out 15-10 (13:45)
> A drive to the basket by Derin Saran was followed by a free throw and jumper by Andre Henry to extend the lead to 22-15 at 10:48
> After the offense was quiet, UCI scored seven in a row on two free throws by Leuchten, duck and dodge Henry lay-up, Hohn's triple on the wing off the cross court dish from Langston Redfield, 31-19 (5:48)
> Cal State Fullerton had a layup and jumper to close the lead to 10, but the Anteaters answered in crafty fashion by finding ways to get Carter Welling and Dylan Thoerner alone for a layup and three-pointer, respectively, 36-23 (3:49)
> Following another layup by C. Welling at 2:41, the Titans came alive with eight unanswered, 38-33, with 53 seconds remaining
> Saran drove down the lane and drew a foul snapping the CSUF momentum with two free throws, 40-33 (0:29)
> Cal State Fullerton's Grayson Carper knocked down a three-pointer up top with six seconds left to cut UCI's lead to 40-36 at the half
> UCI took advantage of the free throw line in the first 20 minutes, going 6-8 (0.750)

SECOND HALF
> The Titans striped the ball to go the distance for a layup to narrow the margin to two, 40-38
> Henry answered with a three from the left corner and Pierre Crockrell II got the ball to Leuchten for the pump fake and up for a lay-in to regain control, 43-38 (17:36)
> Hohn hit back-to-back three-pointers, one from the left side and one right in front of the Anteater bench and faithful to extend the margin to 51-40 at 15:57
> Dean Keeler battled for a layup and completed the and-one play then had another basket before getting the defensive stop. Leuchten hooked a shot in the paint at 10:37 while the Anteaters held the Titans scoreless for over three minutes to take a 61-48 advantage
> CSUF scored four before Dylan Thoerner knocked a three-pointer down in the left corner. Leuchten had a pair of free throws and Tillis followed a drive to the basket for a tip-in at 7:36 to build the 68-52 lead
> The Titans started hitting threes, the last by Dominic Brewton to keep in within 10, 71-61, at 4:23
> UCI hit 8-9 (0.889) from the free throw line to close out the final four minutes as the Titans could get no closer than 10, ending the game 81-71

NOTES
> UC Irvine improved to 9-0 in games where four or more players record double figures
> UCI averages 81.7 points per game through three games played in the month of March
> The Anteaters had their 11th performance of the season where they scored 40 or more points in the paint
> 13 contests this season have seen UCI shoot at or over a 0.500 clip
> The 2023-24 squad is the first team to record 24 or more wins since the historic 31-win season in 2018-19
> Crockrell II remains at seventh place in program history with 381 career assists. The fifth year is now 31 assists away from catching Jerry Green (1998-02) for sixth (412)
> Crockrell II sits in third place in the all-time season assists leaderboard with his 203 assists in 2023-24. He is 27 dimes from catching Raimond Miglinieks' (1995-96) 230 that is good for second place
> Hohn lands 19th in the career three-pointers leader board and is two away from tying assistant coach Alex Young (2012-16) for 18th

UP NEXT
UCI is the No. 1 seed at the Big West Championship and open up action on Friday (Mar. 15) at 6:00 p.m. at the Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nev.