SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – UC Irvine was out-scored 50-31 in the second half to help Cal Poly to a 79-73 victory at Motts Athletics Center.

The Anteaters (16-9, 9-4) held a 42-29 lead after the first 20 minutes then watched the Mustangs shoot 48.6 percent (17-35) from the floor, including eight threes, while UCI was 10-30 (33.3%).

For the game, the Mustangs shot 39.4 percent from the floor with 26 buckets, 14 coming from three-point range. Cal Poly topped UCI on the boards, out-rebounding the Anteaters 51-40 and recorded 19 second chance points.

Guards Jurian Dixon and Derin Saran led UCI with 19 points each. Dixon tied his career-high with six three-pointers, while Saran knocked down three from beyond the arc. Saran also grabbed five rebounds, three assists and four steals.

HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER SAID:
"Tough loss for our team tonight. Credit to Cal Poly, they were the tougher, more competitive group. They dominated us in the second half. I feel badly that I couldn't get our team turned around in the right direction the last 20 minutes. 50 points in the second half were the reason we lost. We got dominated on the boards which surprises me, but we have seen this before with this group. We didn't do a good enough job in that area. Second chance points were the story of the game, we gave them up and didn't get them. That was the difference tonight. I think our team felt at halftime that we had this game in our comfort zone. Cal Poly is a young team and they were more determined and tougher tonight than we were."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Forward Kyle Evans recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds. The nation's leader in blocks swatted three
>Guard Tama Isaac went 3-5 from the floor, including a three for eight points. He pulled down six rebounds, dished six assists and swiped four steals
>Guard Andre Henry had 10 points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists
>Forward Akiva McBirney-Griffin added four points, two rebounds and two blocks
>Forward Harrison Carrington totaled five rebounds and two points
>The Anteaters shot 37.1 percent (26-70) from the field, hitting 11 threes which are tied for most in a game this season
>Cal Poly (10-16, 6-8) was led by Vasilic Guzman's 18 points and Austin Goode's double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds

FIRST HALF
>Cal Poly got the first bucket of the game, but UC Irvine responded quickly with a 7-0 run capped off by a Tama Isaac and-one layup. During the run, Kyle Evans had a pair of buckets at the rim (17:05)
>After UCI got a three from Derin Saran, Cal Poly got a flurry of offense, going on a 14-2 run, which included four three-pointers to take a 17-12 lead and force an Anteater timeout (10:34)
>The Mustangs got another three after the timeout, but Saran scored a layup on the next Anteater possession to stop the run (9:25)
>Jurian Dixon went on a personal 6-0 run for UC Irvine, hitting back-to-back transition threes to get UCI back within a possession, sending the game into a media timeout with the Anteaters trailing 20-23 (7:46)
>After the timeout, UCI ripped off a 12-0 run and took a 35-25 lead with a three from Isaac, a layup and pair of free throws by Saran, a layup by Harrison Carrington and a three-pointer by Andre Henry (4:39)
>The Anteaters continued the run after another stoppage in play, getting a Dixon three-pointer before Cal Poly ended its near-five-minute scoreless stint with a layup, 38-27 (2:08)
>UCI maintained a double-digit lead headed into the half, leading Cal Poly at the break 42-29

SECOND HALF
>Both teams started the second half cold before Cal Poly got a three to go to start scoring in the period and cut the lead to 10. Shortly after, UCI got its first bucket of the half from Akiva McBirney-Griffin (17:31)
>The Mustangs went on an 14-1 run to take the lead for the first time since the 10-minute mark in the first, but a Saran layup righted the ship for the Anteaters and put UC Irvine back ahead 49-48 (12:31)
>UCI got a highlight from Saran, who stole an inbound pass from Cal Poly and hit a three on the other end for the Anteaters, 52-51 (10:32)
>A 7-0 Cal Poly run put the Mustangs ahead by six (58-52), but was ended on an and-one Henry layup out of a UC Irvine timeout (8:27)
>UCI battled back to tie the game at 60 with a two-pointer from Isaac at the 7:09 mark of the half
>Cal Poly took a 68-62 lead with a pair of three-pointers (3:47)
>After both sides traded three-pointers, Cal Poly hit two more triples to open up a nine-point lead (74-65) with two minutes to go 
>The Anteaters were able to generate some turnovers and got a pair of threes from Saran and Dixon, but Cal Poly hit its free throws down the stretch and held on for a 79-73 victory

NOTES
>UCI recorded 14 steals, second most this season, but had 17 turnovers, third most this season
>UC Irvine has given up 50 points in the second half in each of the two games

UP NEXT
UCI returns home to host Cal State Fullerton Saturday (Feb. 14) at 7:00p.m. at the Bren Events Center.