IRVINE, Calif. – Forward Devin Tillis hit a fall-away five-footer as time expired to give UC Irvine a 62-60 victory over UC Santa Barbara at the Bren Events Center Thursday evening.
 
With 0.6 left on the clock, guard Myles Che tossed an inbound pass over the basket to Tillis who hit the game-winner just outside the paint.
 
Tillis had a game-high 22 points, going 10-15 from the floor, including two three-pointers. He also had a team-best eight rebounds.
 
With the win, UC Irvine clinched their spot in the Hercules Tires Men's Basketball Big West Championship in Henderson, Nevada at Lee's Family Forum from Mar. 12-15. The Anteaters remain at the top of the standings with an 11-2 record in league games, 21-5 overall.
 
FROM HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER
"Well, it was a great play by Myles [Che] and a great play by Devin [Tillis]. Give them all the credit. We have a number of situations like that off of that alignment and I can call the guy I wanted to look for and I knew we could get a shot off in that amount of time, but it was all eye contact what I think was between Devin and Myles. It is interesting because at the end of the half I was so irritated with Myles for not passing the ball and tonight he laid the perfect pass to end the game. Good for those guys and good for our team for pulling it out in front of a good, energetic crowd. Credit to UC Santa Barbara. They were excellent and outplayed us in the last ten minutes of the game."
 
"Tonight, it is hard to say enough about what Devin did. In the first half, he made his three's and scored around the rim. He is a really good player. He is also somehow really underrated or really underappreciated or something. Devin is a basketball player. He scored over bigger guys, scored from the perimeter, and scored on a lob. He just has an amazing feel and brain for the game, so when he is good like that, it takes out team's potential to a different place."
 
FROM DEVIN TILLIS
"That last play was actually for Justin [Hohn] to get him open for a three, but then Myles looked at me and I just knew. It was fireworks from there. It felt nice to finally take someone one-on-one, but Coach Turner harps on me and Bent [Leuchten] to be dominate in there. If they aren't going to bring two defenders and they are just going to let me play, it will probably work out for us in a good way."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Sophomore Myles Che finished with 13 points and added four assists and two rebounds 
> Guard Justin Hohn contributed eight points, four assists, three rebounds, and two steals
> Center Bent Leuchten was held to just six points and four rebounds
> Guard Jurian Dixon ended with six points and five rebounds
> Forward Ofure Ujadughele pulled down four rebounds and dished two assists
> The 'Eaters outrebounded the Gauchos 37-36 and outshot them in the paint 40-24
> UC Santa Barbara was led by Kenny Pohto's 15 points and nine rebounds
 
FIRST HALF
> Bent Leuchten was involved in the action early, recording a block on one end and then drawing the foul on the other to get to the line for two makes, 2-0 (19:11)
> Devin Tillis kept the scored tied up twice, the last his score of the offensive board tip-in at 15:53, 8-8
> The Anteaters stayed active on the offensive glass with Jurian Dixon corralling the board and followed up with a lay-in before UC Santa Barbara went on an 8-0 run to go ahead 16-10 at 11:36
> UCI responded with seven unanswered tallies of their own. The spurt saw a mid-range jumper from Myles Che (11:36), a layup from Berk Can Akin (10:44), and was capped with a three-pointer from Tillis (9:59) to go ahead, 17-16
>A Jurian Dixon layup followed a Tillis three to open a 24-21 advantage at 6:19 only to watch UCSB score the next seven and regain the lead at 4:48 (28-24)
> The 'Eaters utilized an 8-3 run at the end of the half, with baskets in the paint from Tillis (4:25), Leuchten (3:51), Che (1:57), and Kyle Evans (1:25), to retake the lead 32-31 heading into the break
 
SECOND HALF
> UC Irvine opened the half with a three-pointer from Che (18:57) and a steal from Dixon on one end to set himself up for the layup (18:31) to increase the lead to 37-31
> UC Santa Barbara went on a seven-point spurt, with four points from Jason Fontenet II, to retake the lead 38-37 at the 15:32 mark
> In a game of runs, the Anteaters responded with a 14-2 stint that saw seven points from Justin Hohn, including one from beyond the arc (14:50), a layup from Tillis (14:14), a three-pointer from Torian Lee (12:47), and two technical free throws from Che (10:07) to regain the lead 51-40
> UCSB buried three consecutive three-pointers to narrow the margin 51-49 at 8:05
> Leuchten got past the triple team, spinning to the basket to break the momentum, 53-49 (7:10)
> The Gauchos caught UCI on a pair of free throws and a layup with 3:54 remaining and moved in front 58-56 on a three-pointer by Stephan Swenson (2:26)
> Tillis went to work for the backed the ball down low for the basket then grabbed a rebound on the defensive end which led to his trip down the baseline to the hole for a reverse layup to give UCI the 60-58 lead with 1:08 to play
> Swenson had a layup to knot the score at 60-all with 30 seconds left before Tillis' heroics to secure the 62-60 win
 
NOTES
> UC Irvine has won the fourth straight contest against UC Santa Barbara and the second straight on nationally television
> UCI improves to 8-3 on the season when Justin Hohn dishes out four or more assists in a game
> The Anteaters went a season-low 5-10 from the free throw line
> Justin Hohn sits seventh in the career steals leader board with 135, needing nine more to pass Evan Leonard (143, 2016-20) for sixth
> Hohn is the 22ndd all-time scorer in the program (1,213 points) now 10 points away from passing Jeff Herdman (1,222, 1987-91) for 21st
> Devin Tillis jumps to 17th in the all-time rebounding list with 599, just 12 behind assistant coach Ricky Butler (611, 1988-91) for 16th
> Bent Leuchten is 23rd in the rebounding standings with 547, needing seven more to move in front of Eric Wise (553, 2008-11) for 22nd and eight to go in front of Mamadou Ndiaye (554, 2013-16) for 21st
> Myles Che recorded his 13th straight double figure scoring game, the longest of any Anteater this season
 
UP NEXT
UC Irvine quickly turns around for a Saturday (Feb. 15) meeting with Hawai'i inside the Stan Sheriff Center.