IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine won its fifth consecutive game with a 74-64 victory over Black & Blue rival Long Beach State at the Bren Events Center Thursday.

On the 39^th birthday of the Bren Events Center, the Anteaters improve to 12-5 overall and remain the Big West's only undefeated team at 5-0.

Guard Jurian Dixon led all players with 23 points, going 8-14 from the floor, including two three pointers and 5-6 from the line. He had three assists and three steals and two steals in the win.

HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER SAID:
"I'm pleased to win at home. We've have three losses here, which is unusual for our program. But tonight we did what we should have done and controlled the game in the second half. We didn't finish as well as I'd like to see us finish — similar to what we did in the Bakersfield game. We've got to get better and tougher when finishing games. But I'm really pleased to be in this position at 5-0 [in Big West play], over halfway through the regular season. We've played games against teams that we should beat, and we've done that. So, I don't want to be openly celebratory about being in this spot because the competition's going to go up and we've got to keep getting better."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Forward Kyle Evans totaled 15 points, on 5-8 shooting from the floor and 5-6 from the line. He grabbed six rebounds and had two blocks
>Guard Derin Saran led UCI with seven rebounds and tied his career-high with four steals to go with four points and two assists
>Guard Tama Isaac was a perfect 5-5 from the line on the way to nine points. The freshman totaled four rebounds, an assist and a steal
>Guard Andre Henry shot 4-8 from the floor for eight points plus two rebounds and an assist
>Jovan Jester Jr. added eight points, three rebounds, an assist and a steal
>Gavin Sykes led The Beach with 21 points, while Petar Majstorovic had a game-high eight rebounds to go with 15 points. LBSU falls to 5-11 overall and 1-3 in the Big West
>UCI shot 42.9% (24-56) from the field and 22-28 (78.6%) from the line
>The Anteaters, one of the top defensive teams in the country, had 10 steals, five blocks on the night
>Both teams dropped four three-pointers

FIRST HALF
>UC Irvine won the opening tip-off and scored immediately on a layup from Kyle Evans, which was followed by a 6-0 Long Beach State run
>The Anteaters answered quickly, tying the game at 6-6 with jumpers from Jurian Dixon and Derin Saran (16:22)
>UCI's defense settled down, holding the Beach offense scoreless for nearly four minutes while going on a 5-0 run powered by an Andre Henry layup and Jovan Jester Jr. three-pointer to take an 11-10 lead (11:32)
>After a Long Beach bucket UCI retook the lead by going on another run, this time 6-0. During the stretch, the Anteaters got buckets from Dixon and Tama Isaac along with a pair of free throws to Evans to build a 17-13 lead with 8:32 remaining in the half
>A Dixon three-pointer, Henry jumper, pair of Jester Jr. free throws propelled a 7-0 UC Irvine spurt to give the Anteaters their largest lead of the night to that point, 31-21 (3:01)
>Long Beach responded with seven straight points in under two minutes, cutting the UCI lead down to 31-28 (1:04)
>In the final minute of the half, Dixon hit a free throw and a jumper along with a pair of made free throws from Long Beach State, closing the period with a 34-30 Anteater lead

SECOND HALF
>Evans came out firing to open the half, with the senior putting in five quick points to open a 42-34 lead (17:49)
>The Anteaters ripped off a 10-0 run, holding Long Beach State scoreless for 3:15 and getting buckets from Dixon, Isaac and Nes Emeneke to build a 15-point UC Irvine advantage, 52-37 (14:25)
>Henry lit up the Bren, putting up a contested floater at the shot clock buzzer and following the shot with another pull-up jumper for his seventh and eighth points of the night, 62-44 (9:47)
>Long Beach State put up a 7-0 run to cut the UCI lead to 11 (69-58), but the Anteaters got back on track with a pair of Isaac free throws (2:22)
>Ben Egbo checked in and made a free throw for the final point of the game, closing out the Anteaters' fifth conference victory, 74-64

NOTES
>Dixon scored 20 or more for the fourth time this season and has hit two or more threes in six consecutive games
>UCI has won nine of the last 10 outings
>UCI has won three straight against The Beach
>On Jan. 8, 1987, UCI beat Utah State 118-96 behind 43 points from Scott Brooks in the first game at the Bren Events Center

UP NEXT
UCI travels to Hawaii for a showdown of the Big West's top two teams Saturday (Jan.10) at the Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Tip is 9:00 p.m. PT