IRVINE, Calif. – Guard Jurian Dixon tied his career-high with 23 points in UC Irvine's 79-70 victory over Weber State at the Bren Events Center Saturday night.  

Dixon's career-best 23 points came on 7-13 shooting from the floor and 7-8 from the line. The sophomore hit two from long range to go with four rebounds, two steals and two assists.

Weber State would rally late on an 8-0 run to close within eight (70-62) with 1:55 remaining before Derin Saran would score UCI's final eight points, including 6-6 from the line to secure the win.

Saran ended the night with 15 points, going 4-9 from the field and a perfect 7-7 from the charity stripe.

HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER SAID
"It feels like we needed a win against a Division I team after having only, the non-DI wins at this point and having a really disappointing performance against Cal Baptist. We showed signs of improvement tonight, especially on the boards.We know we have to give ourselves a chance every night with our ability to defend and rebound. I was pleased that we rebounded well against a team that has been a good rebounding team itself."

"I thought [Dixon] was controlled. He was smart. He looked like a veteran out there on offense, but I thought he was dominant defensively in a matchup that was really the most important one for us in this game. We know that he can be a shutdown defender. I think we've got multiple guys who can do some version of that when they're locked in and focused, but I thought his focus was consistent tonight."
 
SOPHOMORE JURIAN DIXON SAID:
"I just was trying to play through my teammates, play together, and I felt like that's what opened up the lead. I tried to start out aggressive. I feel like a couple of us did that and that's what helped us. So it was a team effort."


INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Guard Tama Isaac added 14 points on the strength of 5-8 from the field, including a three-pointer. He pulled down a team and career-high nine rebounds. He also had two assists and a steal on the night
>Forward Akiva McBirney-Griffin matched his season-high with eight points, while dishing a career-high four assists and pulling down five rebounds in a start
>Forwards Harrison Carrington and Kyle Evans recorded seven and six points, respectively. Evans grabbed a season-high seven caroms and had three blocks
>Jovan Jester Jr. went 2-5 from the floor and 2-2 from the line for six points. He also added a rebound, assist and steal
>Defensively, freshman Nes Emeneke had four rebounds and a block and redshirt junior Elijah Chol had two blocks
>In a battle of two of the nation's best rebounding teams, UCI won the battle 44-41
>UCI shot 44.6 percent from the floor (25-56) and 68.4 percent (26-38) from the line
>Both teams knocked down three three-pointers
>Weber State (1-3 )was led by Edwin Suarez Jr.'s 13 points
>The Wildcats were 25-71 from the field (35.2%) and 17-24 (70.8%) from the line

FIRST HALF
> Jurian Dixon led an early UC Irvine burst to open play, scoring six of the Anteaters' first 11, including four free throws, 11-2 (15:22). In that span, the Anteaters held Weber State to just 1-9 shooting from the field
> Weber State answered on an 8-0 run to get back in the game,  10-11 (13:59)
>The Wildcats took its first lead of the night with a three-pointer and a 16-15 advantage (12:14)
>UCI would out-score Weber State, 9-2 started by an Akiva McBirney-Griffin free throw and tip-in and capped by a Dixon three-pointer to move the Anteaters back in front, 25-20 (6:38)
>Following a Wildcat basket, UCI began to run, using an Tama Isaac driving layup followed by back-to-back buckets from Dixon in transition, the last a dunk, and a layup and free throw by Derin Saran to push the Anteater lead to 34-22 (4:50)
>Once again, Weber State responded, scoring the next eight of their own, cutting the UCI lead down to 34-30 (2:43)
>Isaac stopped the run with a three-pointer from the left wing (2:30) then Dixon put in a pair of free throws at 1:41, 39-30
>A Wildcat layup was followed by a rebound put-back floater by Dixon as time wound down to end the half with UCI holding a 41-32 edge
>Dixon scored 18 points in the first 20 minutes of action

SECOND HALF
>Dixon picked up where he left off in the first half, hitting a pull-up jumper to start scoring in the period (19:26)
>The Bren erupted when a Kyle Evans block led to a Dixon three-pointer in transition to cap off a 7-1 UCI run (14:52)
> Harrison Carrington had a dunk off of a pass from Jovan Jester Jr. to push UCI's lead to 58-41 (11:57)
> Another Evans block created an easy opportunity in transition, with a rejection by the senior leading to a layup for Jester Jr. (9:55)
> Saran got a ball screen and hit a pull-up jumper to bring the score to 64-50 UCI (7:25)
>A Weber State three-pointer, layup and three free consecutive free throws cut the lead to eight 70-62 with 1:55 to play
>UCI rode Saran to close out the win, with the guard hitting a pair of free throws to end the run before getting a layup to go on the next possession (1:11) and knocking down four more free throws to ice UCI's third win of the year by a 79-70 final score

NOTES
>UCI is ranked eighth nationally in blocks, swatting at least six in every game this season
>UCI is 3-1 overall, improving to 29-3 at the Bren Events Center over the last two-plus seasons
>UCI's 26 made free throws and 38 attempted are both season-highs

UP NEXT
UCI hits the road for the first time this season, traveling to Utah Valley Wednesday (Nov. 19) before returning to the Bren Center to face Northern Iowa on Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m.