DAVIS, Calif. – UC Irvine fell 75-72 in another hard fought Big West road contest at the University Credit Union Center Saturday afternoon.

Niko Rocak hit a three-pointer with 3:47 remaining to put UC Davis up, 70-68, and the Aggies would not relinquish the lead the rest of the way.

The Anteaters out-shot the Aggies 46.6 percent (27-58) to 38.6 percent (22-57), but UCD made up the difference hitting 40.7 percent (11-27) from three-point distance.

Guard Jurian Dixon led four Anteaters in double-figures with 16 points. He went 6-14 from the floor including 2 three-pointers and 2-2 from the line.

HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER SAID:
"Tough loss on the road for our squad tonight. I thought we got out-played. That's why we came up short. We didn't take good enough care of the basketball, didn't play with enough force and met an opponent tonight who was good. I give them credit, UC Davis played well and got a good game from Niko Rocak who is a veteran player who had a terrific night against us. Congrats to them. It's hard to win on the road in the league. I don't expect to win them all, but that's two straight tough losses that come down to our ability to make plays at the end. We have to look in the mirror and get better and that's what we are going to do.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Guard Jovan Jester Jr. came off the bench to add 12 points, knocking down 5-8 from the field, two from long distance. He added two rebounds and two assists
>Forward Kyle Evans recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. The nation's leader in blocks rejected four Aggie attempts
>Forward Harrison Carrington totaled 11 points, five rebounds and three assists
>Andre Henry totaled nine points, two rebounds and an assist
>Guard Derin Saran had six points, four rebounds, an assist and a steal
>The Anteaters were perfect from the line, 13-13
>Rocak had a game-high 17 points and five assists for the Aggies
>UC Davis took advantage of the free throw line, hitting 20-30

FIRST HALF
>Kyle Evans got the first basket of the game for UC Irvine with a layup off of an offensive rebound
>An 8-0 run for UCD got the Aggies out to an 11-4 lead (16:28)
>The Anteaters battled back to tie the game with a 7-0 run, getting a catch-and-shoot three in the right corner from Andre Henry to even the score at 11 after the half's first media timeout
>Henry continued his solid play, getting an isolation touch and hitting a contested turnaround fadeaway jumper. Shortly after, Jovan Jester Jr. hit a jumper of his own to give UCI the 17-16 lead (11:07)
>A quick 5-0 UC Davis spurt was quelled by a Jurian Dixon midrange jumper. The redshirt sophomore converted an and-one hook shot on the ensuing possession to tie the game at 22 (8:01)
>The Aggies ripped off a 9-2 run to take a 39-30 lead before Harrison Carrington took over with a personal 7-0 run to counter the Aggies, getting a jumper, two layups  and a free throw to cut the deficit to 39-37 (1:38)
>A pair of Tama Isaac free throws, Dixon three-pointer and UCD three-pointer closed an eventful final minute of the half with the score even at 42

SECOND HALF
>Isaac got a floater to go to give UCI a 44-42 lead and start scoring in the second half (18:44)
>A back-and-forth game continued with UC Davis getting a pair of threes, but buckets from Jester Jr. and Henry kept the Anteaters in the game, trailing the Aggies 54-49 entering the half's second media timeout (11:44)
>Henry got a two-pointer before Jester Jr. got his second three of the night to go, tying the game at 58 (9:33)
>A Dixon and-one gave the Anteaters a 64-63 lead with just over six minutes to go in regulation
>The teams continued to go back-and-forth, with UCD taking a lead before a pair of Evans free throws gave the Anteaters a 68-67 advantage
>On the next possession, the Aggies got another three to give the Aggies a two-point lead (3:27)
>The Anteaters could not score on one end and committed a foul on the other where UCD would hit two and go up by four, 72-68 (0:42)
>Evans had a tip in to keep the game close with 30 seconds remaining but another pair of free throws helped keep UCI at bay
>Saran could have a rebound put-back with seven seconds left, 72-74
>Davis made the first of two from the line and after a timeout, UCI had 1.7 on the clock for a final attempt that would not go for the final 75-72 

NOTES
>Evan recorded his fifth double-double of the season
>Carrington posted his sixth double-figure scoring performance of the year
>Both teams totaled 35 rebounds
>UCI's last two losses have come by a total of four points

UP NEXT
UCI remains on the road next week, starting at UC Riverside on Thursday (Jan. 22) at 7:00 p.m.