by By Sarah Zetlmeisl, UCI Communications
HONOLULU, Hawai’i, – UC Irvine won its seventh-straight game after outlasting Hawai’i, 53-51, in its first game of a two-game series in Honolulu, Friday evening.
UCI remains perfect in Big West play with a 5-0 record and improves to 9-4 overall. The Anteaters won their fifth-straight game at Hawai’i and seventh-straight against the ‘Bows. UH falls to 4-5 overall and 2-5 in conference play.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Brad Greene (Shoshone/Paiute) dominated on both ends of the court, finishing with a game-high 18 points, a season-high 14 blocks and a season-best five blocks. He notched his second double-double of the year and 12th in his career. He shot 9-16 overall from the floor
> DJ Davis dished out a team-high four assists and finished with eight points
> Collin Welp had seven points while Austin Johnson finished with six
> UCI shot 39 percent (23-59) from the field overall and held Hawai’i to 36.4 percent (20-55) shooting from the field
> The Anteaters held a 42-22 advantage in paint points and a 13-7 advantage in points off turnovers. UCI also out-rebounded UH 39-32 and outscored the hosts 14-4 in second chance points
> Casdon Jardine led the ‘Bows with 14 points
FIRST HALF
> Isaiah Lee got things started with a three-pointer from the left corner (19:34) before UH responded with a three to knot the game, 3-3 (19:04)
> A steal from Justin Hohn led to layup from DJ Davis at 13:02 to give UCI a four points lead, 11-7
> The Rainbow Warriors used a 7-0 run to take their first lead, 14-11, with 10:40 remaining
> UCI responded with a 12-2 run to retake the lead, 23-16, with 4:32 left. Greene had four points in that stretch
> UH scored five unanswered points to close the gap to one point, 23-22 (:57), before a Greene layup gave the ‘Eaters a 25-22 lead at the half
SECOND HALF
> Layups from Welp and Greene gave UCI a five point lead, 29-24, to open the second frame (18:15)
> UH scored eight unanswered points to take a 32-29 lead at 16:53
> The ‘Eaters answered with an 11-2 run to go up by five, 41-36 at 8:53
> James Jean-Marie made a layup for the ‘Bows to cut the UCI lead to one, 44-43, with 6:21 remaining
> A made hook shot by Greene at 2:29 gave the ‘Eaters a three point, 50-47, lead before Jean-Marie hit a jumper at 1:39 to make it 50-49
> A made free throw from Welp followed by two from Lee gave the ‘Eaters just enough down the stretch to secure the 53-51 win
