IRVINE, Calif. – In a battle of mid-major powerhouses, Northern Iowa's Trey  Campbell hit a jumper and a free throw with under a second to go in overtime to give the Panthers a 70-69 victory over UC Irvine at the Bren Events Center Saturday.

UCI guard Derin Saran had a layup and was fouled with eight second left. He missed the free throw, but grabbed the rebound and put it back, giving UCI the 69-67 lead with six seconds remaining before Campbell's game-winning final three points. 

The backcourt of Saran and Jurian Dixon led the Anteaters with 46 of UCI's 69 points.

Saran did it all, pouring in a career-high 29 points on 11-17 shooting from the floor and 6-9 from the line. He matched Kyle Evans for the game-high in rebounds with 10 and had a game-best four assists plus swiped a steal.

Dixon followed with 17 points, hitting 5-15 from the field  and 6-7 from the line, while grabbing six boards.

Forward Kyle Evans recorded a career-high eight blocks to go with 10 points and 10 rebounds. His eight blocks are tied for second most in the country this year.

UC Irvine goes to 3-3 on the year, while Northern Iowa remains unbeaten at 5-0.

HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER SAID:

"UNI made the plays at the end more than we did. So it's a difficult one to lose for us. I thought that we made some progress with our competitive level in the second half. ?But we looked soft and timid in the first half, as we've looked at times this year with a young team. We've got to go through that. ?We can make better plays for one another. I was pleased with the spirit that we showed and coming back and taking the lead, giving ourselves a chance to win. In regulation, and then overtime, so it hurts to lose. ?We're not used to losing these types of games here very often."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Guard Jovan Jester Jr. added five points, six rebounds, two assists and a steal
>UCI also had scoring by Elijah Chol (4), Andre Henry (2) and Harrison Carrington (2)
>UCI shot 42.4% from the field, making 3-11 from three-point distance (27.3%). The Anteaters were just 16-26 from the free throw line
>UNI won the strength of 11 three-pointers, shooting 34.4% from long range. The Panthers were 36.1 percent from the floor (26-72) and 7-10 from the line (70.0%)

FIRST HALF
>Northern Iowa made the first move with nine in a row, 12-4 (14:15)
>UCI would go scoreless for 4:52 until Derin Saran put in a free throw with 11:52 to play
>Jumpers by Andre Henry and Derin Saran was followed by a Saran steal and layup getting the Anteaters back in the game, 15-11 (9:09)
>Jurian Dixon banked in a three-pointer from the left wing while being fouled before  a Panther 7-2 run  built a 29-18 UNI lead 29-18 (4:02)
>Jovan Jester Jr. knocked down a three-pointer then following a UNI three-pointer, UCI had two free throws by Harrison Carrington before Jester Jr. found Kyle Evans streaking to the basket for a layup to  close within 25-32 with 29 second remaining
>The Panthers would close out the half sinking a three with four seconds left, 35-35

SECOND HALF
> UCI started the second half strong on an 8-0 run, generating a turnover on defense that led to a Dixon jumper, an Elijah Chol layup, Evans pu-tback and free throws for Dixon that cut the UNI lead to just two (17:45)
>Saran sparked a 8-0 run with a layup and three from the left side to tie the game at 38 all (14:12) then Dixon hung in the lane and sunk a jumper to give UCI its first lead at 13:02 then had two free throws to extended the lead to 41-38 (12:04)
>The Panthers responded with back-to-back three-pointers, 44-42 (11:15)
>Two free throws by Jester jr. and another by Saran were bookends around a UNI three-pointer, 45-47 (9:42)
>A Saran rebound put-back was followed by an Evans block that led to a Dixon jumper in the paint 49-50 (7:57)
>Saran drove through traffic for a layup  then laid it off to Evans for a drop-in, 53-53 (6:29 )
>Evans then swatted another which led to Dixon being fouled and promptly hit two from the line 55-53 with 5:39 to play
>A Dixon jumper that was short was snatched by Evans and laid in (3:36)
>A pair of UNI free throws was matched by two from Saran, 59-57 (1:59)
>A driving Saran layup was followed by two Northern Iowa free throws. Saran was fouled running down a ball in the backcourt. He made both before a goaltend gave the Panthers the tie 63-63 with 24 seconds remaining
>A Dixon baseline jumper at the buzzer rattled around the rim and out sending the game to overtime, 63-63

OVERTIME
>UNI got on the board first and after a slow start, Jester Jr. forced a turnover and Dixon got a layup to go, tying the game at 65 (1:28)
>The Bren erupted as Evans blocked a shot and Saran got out in transition, hitting a layup plus a foul. The redshirt sophomore missed the free throw, but got his own rebound and made a floater to give UCI a 69-67 lead with five seconds to go
>Northern Iowa's Trey Campbell drove to the basket, pulled up and made the leaning jumper and was fouled with less than a second remaining. He made the free throw to give UNI the 70-69 victory as UCI's final heave missed the hoop

NOTES
>Saran's 29 points are second most by a Big West player this season

UP NEXT
UCI heads to Cancun to complete the Cancun Challenge, facing New Mexico State Tuesday (Nov. 25) and South Dakota State Wednesday (Nov. 26) at the Hard Rock Cancun Riviera Maya.