UCI beats Pacific, 68-59

UCI v. Pacific (2013)/ By Mark Nguyen

Irvine, Calif. -- The UC Irvine Anteaters defeated the Pacific Tigers, 68-59, Wednesday night at the Bren Center behind some accurate outside shooting and senior guard Daman Starring's 16 points. UCI hit 8 of 16 treys overall, including six in the second half.

Perhaps even more important was UCI's defense, limiting Pacific to 33 percent shooting and holding the Tigers' leading scorer, Lorenzo McCloud, to 11 points on 3 for 10 shooting from the field. The Tigers struggled to move the ball and were consistently denied easy access in the paint all night.

After trailing 30-26 at halftime, Pacific aggressively rallied and held a 33-32 one-point advantage over UCI following a Travis Fulton jumper.

UCI v. Pacific (2013) / By Mark Nguyen

However, with the score tied at 38-38, the Anteaters' outside gunners kicked it into high gear, getting four consecutive three-pointers to take a 50-40 lead with 9:49 remaining in the game. Michael Wilder and Travis Souza hit two treys apiece during the run, and Pacific would not threaten again the rest of the way.

Tony Gill led Pacific with 17 points and 7 boards.

UCI (15-13, 9-6 Big West) next will head to UT Arlington on Saturday, and Pacific (15-11, 9-5 Big West) will travel to Western Michigan for non-conference BracketBusters games.

By Don Luong
Contributing Writer for The Daily Sports Herald