IRVINE, Calif. – The UC Irvine men's basketball team captured the Big West regular season title with a 79-69 overtime victory over UC Davis in the regular season finale at the Bren Events Center Saturday.

The Anteaters improve to 22-10 overall and 15-5 in the Big West and earn the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Credit Union 1 Big West Championship at Lee's Family Forum in Henderson, Nev.  UCI advances to the semifinals on Friday (Mar. 13) at 6:00 p.m.

UCI captures its 10^th regular season title overall and third in the last four seasons.

A UC Davis three-pointer with 59 seconds to play knotted the score at 65-65, the last score of regulation sending the game into overtime. The Anteaters dominated overtime, out-scoring the Aggies 14-4. After UC Davis scored the first basket of the extra period, UCI opened up a six-point advantage (73-67) on buckets from Jurian Dixon, Kyle Evans, Derin Saran and Andre Henry. UCD would hit their final points, a pair of free throws, with 1:06 on the clock. Henry, Evans and Dixon, all recorded two free throws to give UCI the 10-point victory.

Dixon led UC Irvine with 23 points, hitting 8-16 from the floor, including a three-pointer and 6-7 from the free throw line. The redshirt sophomore guard also led the Anteaters with career-high eight rebounds.

HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER SAID:
"I'm really excited for my guys, knowing how hard it is to win a championship and then how hard it was tonight to beat the UC Davis team that deserves everyone's respect. They were playing for a lot in terms of seeding in the Big West tournament because of the format. They came out and took it to us in the first half.  It was a tough situation when we're getting beat that badly at home. But I think that our team showed belief at halftime. Then to start the second half we made an important adjustment and went to a smaller team, and even with a smaller team, we dominated the glass and we played high level defense in the second half and in overtime enough to win the game."

"I've got to give a lot of credit to all those seniors, the guys that we celebrated. Kyle Evans had a tough night defending the three and trying to take care of the rim, but he did it when it mattered most. I'm just thrilled for him that he's had the year that he's had and that he gets to experience the feeling of being a champion in our program because it's the first time he's gotten to feel that. Akiva has felt it before, as has Andre but it's meaningful when you're out there competing for it and doing it like those two guys did, tonight and all season.So it's a full season championship, and there's a lot of great moments that we will all savor. The crowd got to see a great game tonight and be a part of our win because we don't do it tonight without the support of the crowd and the energy that they gave us."

GRADUATE GUARD ANDRE HENRY SAID:
"I'm just super proud of our guys, for fighting every single game. Honestly, we worked so hard for this and we made plays at the end when it mattered. I'm just proud of our team. And we got two more in Henderson. I was speechless [about senior night]. Honestly, this is my home. This is where I grew up and became a man. So there were a lot of emotions, seeing the [tribute] video, seeing my entire family. But honestly, I'm just blessed that I was able to spend six amazing years here at Irvine."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Andre Henry went 4-10 from the field, including a pair from long range, and 5-6 from the line to total 15 points. He added five rebounds and two steals in 32 minutes of action
>Guard Jovan Jester Jr. was 5-7 from the floor and 2-2 from the line with a three-pointer fo13 points. The redshirt freshman had five rebounds , two steals and a block
>Forward Kyle Evans was perfect on the night going 5-5 from the floor and 4-4 from the line for 14 points. He had seven points, two blocks, two assists and a steals
>Freshman guard Tama Isaac totaled eight points and seven rebounds
>Guard Derin Saran pulled down six rebounds and had three assists, two points, a block and a steal
>UC Davis was led by Niko Rocak with 20 points, draining six three-pointers
>The Aggies shot 38.5 percent (25-65) from the floor, knocking down 13 of their baskets from three-point distance. UCI limited UCD's trips to the line, making 6-9
>The Anteaters were once again efficient, shooting 50.9 percent (27-53) from the floor, including hitting six threes. UCI went to the line 27 times, making 19
>UCI dominated the glass, out-rebounding the Aggies 48-24

FIRST HALF
>UC Irvine won the tip and got a deep three at the shot clock buzzer from Jurian Dixon to begin the night's scoring (19:29)
>The Aggies went on a 13-2 run after UCI got a three-pointer from Tama Isaac, taking a 15-8 lead. Jovan Jester Jr. put in a layup to end the UCD momentum and a multi-minute Anteater scoring drought (10:36)
>Starting with the Jester Jr. layup, UCI responded with seven straight points to tie the game at 15. During the stretch, UC Irvine got two from Jester Jr., a layup from Dixon, a putback from Isaac and a free throw from Nes Emeneke (8:31)
>The UC Davis offense woke up, scoring eight unanswered points in under two minutes before a Jester Jr. dunk in transition put the score at 23-17 in favor of UC Davis (6:21)
>The Aggies built the advantage to double-digits, taking a 30-19 lead immediately after the half's last media timeout (3:20)
>UCI closed the half with a stop on defense and a floater by Kyle Evans to send the game into halftime with UCD leading 38-28

SECOND HALF
>UCI started chipping away at the lead with another jumper from Dixon and a pair of free throws from the redshirt sophomore to cut the UCD lead down to seven, 36-43 (16:02)
>A 6-0 Anteater run powered by an Evans layup, a Jester Jr. tip-in and a pair of Andre Henry free throws cut the lead down to 46-42, UCD (13:14)
>UC Davis put in a three, but UCI's offense continued to roar, scoring another nine in a row with a Jester Jr. triple, Henry fadeaway, Evans free throws and another layup from Jester Jr. putting the Anteaters ahead 51-49 (8:42)
>UCI and UCD traded the lead, with Henry hitting a catch-and-shoot from the corner to put the Anteaters up by three before a layup and three from UC Davis gave the Aggies a 58-56 advantage (4:31)
>Davis took a 60-58 lead before Henry hit another three, lighting up the Bren and firing up the UCI bench to put the score at 61-60 with just under three minutes left in regulation 
>Again, UCD fought back to take a late one-point lead with 2:46 to go, but two Dixon layups gave UCI a three-point advantage and forced an Aggie timeout (1:30)
>UCD hit a triple with 59 seconds left to tie and after both UC Irvine and Davis couldn't convert on their final offensive possessions of regulation, the game was sent to overtime at 65-65

OVERTIME
>The Aggies and Anteaters traded twos to start the overtime period, with Dixon putting in a floater for UC Irvine (4:17)
>UCI ripped off an 8-0 run starting with the Dixon floater, holding Davis scoreless for over three minutes and taking a 73-67 lead. Derin Saran, Henry and Evans all had two-pointers for UC Irvine in the clutch to build the six-point advantage (1:34)
>Defensive stops and free throws from Henry, Evans and Dixon closed out the Big West Championship-clinching 79-69 victory for the Anteaters

NOTES
>Dixon had seven first half points before turning up the heat with 12 in the second half and four in OT
>UCI 2-1 in overtime games this season
>Dixon poured in 20+ for the time seventh time this season
>UCI's 48 rebounds are fourth most this season. 38 boards were on the defensive end
>UCI's bench was once again productive, adding 32 points
>The Anteaters held the advantage in second chance points, scoring 13 to UCD's 2
>UC Davis' 13 three-pointers are second most made by an opponent this season
>Kyle Evans leads the nation with 172 blocks
>UC Irvine honored graduating players Kyle Evans, Andre Henry and Akiva McBirney-Griffin before the contest

UP NEXT
UC Irvine heads to Henderson, Nev. for 2026 Credit Union 1 Big West Men's Basketball Championship.  The Anteaters start the quest for another title Friday (Mar. 13) at 6:00 p.m.