NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – UC Irvine guard Derin Saran slipped through the paint and banked in a layup as time expired to give the Anteaters a 68-67 victory over CSUN at the Premier America Credit Union Arena Thursday night.

CSUN would score four in a row to hold a 67-64 lead with 55 seconds remaining before Jurian Dixon pulled up for a free throw line jumper with 38 ticks on the clock to get UCI with in one, 67-66. Following a Matador timeout, Tama Isaac stole the ball and got the ball back but missed the layup which bounced off several hands, the last by a CSUN player, giving the Anteaters one more possession.  With 1.3 on the clock, Isaac would inbound the ball on the baseline, finding Saran who circled across the paint and through the defense right under the basket to bank it off the glass as time expired, 68-67

Dixon would lead UCI with 14 points, hitting 6-12 from the floor, including two three pointers. He totaled four assists and two steals.

Saran followed with 13 points, five rebounds, four steals and an assist.

The battle of first place teams put UCI a game ahead of the Matadors at 19-10 overall and 12-5 in the Big West, tied with Hawaii at the top of the standings. CSUN goes to 18-11 on the year and 11-6 in Big West games.

HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER SAID:
"I'm excited to win.?I'm proud of my guys. When you come out on top of games like that, it feels pretty doggone good. And there's a lot of balance in the league this year. ?We've been on the other end of two of those games that were decided on the last possession against Northern Iowa and Hawai'i and hopefully, now their coming back to us. I did think we were ready to play, our defensive level in the first half was outstanding. I thought we really set the tone for the game then. Give Northridge credit, they made a run. We stayed together. ?It's not easy to do on the road when it's going against you, but that's what we did. And we made one more play than they did."

GUARD DERIN SARAN SAID:
"I'm feeling great. I'm just fortunate it rolled in. I was just trying to make the ball go in at that point, I wasn't really thinking much of anything else. I've been in a kind of a slump. I haven't been playing to my best capability. But I'm trying to flip the switch and do my best to help this team reach March Madness. All the next three teams we play beat us the first time around, so we want to win the championship, so we're going to do whatever we can to beat those teams."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Forward Harrison Carrington went 5-7 from the floor with a free throw for 11 points. He had five rebounds, three steals, a block and an assist
>Guard Andre Henry recorded 11 points, four assists and three rebounds
>Jovan Jester Jr.  had a team-high seven assists to go with nine points, five rebounds, three steals and two blocks
>Forward Kyle Evans had a team-high six rebounds, four blocks and four points
>The Anteaters shot 46.6 percent (27-58) from the floor for the game and 48.4 percent (15-31) in the first half where they led 36-34 at the break
>The Anteaters went 9-11 from the line (81.8%)
>UCI's bench out-scored CSUN 33-10
>The Matadors were led by Joshua Garro's 17 points and 10 rebounds
>UCI held one of the league's top scoring offenses to just 28.6 percent from the floor (8-28) in the first half. CSUN ended up shooting 41 percent (25-61) for the game and 51.5 percent (17-33) in the final 20 minutes
>The Matadors out-rebounded UCI 37 to 33

FIRST HALF
>The teams traded threes on the first two possessions of the game, with a triple by Jurian Dixon tying the game after CSUN got scoring started (19:24)
>The Matadors took a four-point lead, before UCI got a layup from Derin Saran and floater by Harrison Carrington to take a lead and hold CSUN scoreless for nearly four minutes, 11-10 (12:30)
>Elijah Chol checked in for the first time since Jan. 22, getting a reverse layup to go, giving the Anteaters an 18-16 lead (9:49)
>Jovan Jester Jr. and Dixon combined for a highlight play, with Jester Jr. ripping the ball away from a CSUN ballhandler for a steal and Dixon slamming it down on the other end, giving the Anteaters a 22-17 advantage (7:53)
>A 7-0 Anteater run powered by a pair of Akiva McBirney-Griffin free throws, a Jester Jr. three-pointer and Saran layup forced a CSUN timeout and put UCI ahead by double-digits, 31-19 (4:44)
>UCI held CSUN scoreless for the final 2:47 of the period to carry a 36-24 lead into halftime

SECOND HALF
>CSUN quickly got the lead down to single digits, with a 7-2 run out of the break, cutting the UCI lead down to 38-33 and forcing a quick Anteater timeout (17:54)
>The Anteaters got a bucket from Saran, but another Matador 5-0 run brought the score to 40-38 (15:40)
>CSUN briefly tied the game at 40, but layups from Jester Jr. and Andre Henry, along with a pair of free throws from the graduate student capped UCI's 6-0 run and put the Anteaters back up 46-40 (13:04)
>The Matadors responded quickly, going on a 9-0 run in under two minutes to take a one-point lead before another Saran three put the advantage back in the Anteaters' hands, 55-53 (7:30)
>UCI and CSUN continued a close back-and-forth, with the Anteaters leading 62-61 headed into the game's final media timeout (3:13)
>A pair of Tama Isaac free throws put UCI on top with 1:40 to play before CSUN had a basket and two from the charity stripe to take a 67-64 lead with 55 second remaining
>A Dixon free throw line jumper cut the lead down to one with 38 on the clock then following a CSUN timeout, Isaac stole the ball and dished to Dixon who gave it back to a driving Isaac, but he missed the layup and the rebound went out of bounds off a Matador
>With 1.3 on the clock, Isaac would find Saran who slipped baseline and onto the other side of the basket putting in the layup off the glass as time expired, 68-67

NOTES
>With four blocks, Evans has a nation's leading 100, trailing Mamadou Ndiaye's school and Big West singles season record by six
>The Anteaters recorded 14 steals tied for second most this season

UP NEXT
UCI plays its final three regular season games at home, starting with UC Santa Barbara Saturday (Feb. 28) at 7:30 p.m. at the Bren Events Center. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2.