Warrior Insider

Luke Nelson scored a game-high 29 points tonight to help UC Irvine race past Hawai’i, 72-58, in a Big West Conference men’s basketball showdown.

A spirited black-clad, “Black-Out” crowd of about 6,800 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the Anteaters improve to 15-12 overall, 8-3 in the Big West. Gibson Johnson scored 19 points, Noah Allen added 18 points and Sheriff Drammeh contributed 12 points for the Warriors, whose season-high four-game win streak was snapped to fall to 12-12, 6-5.

UH led early, 14-7, but went cold over the next nine minutes as UC Irvine got hot and went on a blistering 20-2 run capped by Max Hazzard’s jumper from the right wing to make it 27-16 with 3:45 remaining until halftime.

Allen finally broke the drought with a layup 14 seconds later, but Jaron Martin answered with a left-handed floater to help the Anteaters end the half with an 8-2 run to lead 35-20 at the break.

The Warriors could not get closer than 10 points in the second half.

More details, including video highlights and interviews, will be posted later.

Saturday’s Results
at UC Davis 77, UC Riverside 63
at CSUN 77, UC Santa Barbara 55
at Cal State Fullerton 74, Long Beach State 69
UC Irvine 72, at Hawai’i 58