RIVERSIDE — It was clear early on that the UC Irvine men’s basketball team would need its defense to keep the game close against California Baptist until the offense could find its rhythm on Monday night.
That point finally came late in the second half, allowing UCI to escape with a 71-63 victory over the Lancers in a nonconference game at CBU.
Bent Leuchten scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half and also pulled down 10 rebounds for UCI (11-2).
Devin Tillis scored 11 of his 13 points after halftime and finished with eight rebounds.
Myles Che scored 12 points, half of them coming on three straight possessions late in the second half when the Anteaters began their decisive run.
Justin Hohn scored 11 of his 13 points in the first half, when few others were getting shots to fall.
“We’re a team that relies on everybody, and I thought we got really good performances from a lot of different guys tonight, in different ways,” said UCI coach Russell Turner, who earned his 300th victory for the Anteaters. “We showed some defensive versatility tonight. I’m proud of that.”
Dominique Daniels Jr. came in averaging 22.4 points for CBU, fifth in the nation entering the day, and the Compton native finished with 19 points. Adam Moussa, who came in averaging 4.1 points, also scored 19 for the Lancers (7-7).
UCI was coming off a nine-day break since losing a road game to Duquesne, 70-54, on Dec. 21, a performance in which no Anteater scored in double figures.
UCI has also lost two key players to season-ending injuries, starting shooting guard Andre Henry and backup guard Langston Redfield.
The Anteaters didn’t take their first lead against CBU until Jurian Dixon scored on a layup in transition for a 35-34 edge with 15:35 left.
The lead continued to change hands until a jumper by Che moved the Anteaters back ahead 59-58 with 4:54 left and sparked a 9-0 run that put UCI in front 66-58 with 1:27 remaining.
“Bent and Devin were the difference in the second half,” Turner said. “I thought it was a good team win. Cal Baptist outplayed us early, credit to them for that. Justin Hohn kept us in it early in the game.”
The Anteaters were chasing the Lancers for the entire first half.
Daniels and Moussa sank 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to give the hosts an early 8-2 lead.
CBU took its first double-digit advantage at 14-4 on a jumper by Jonathan Griman with 12:54 remaining.
“It looked to me, early in the game, that Cal Baptist was more physical and more determined and more competitive than we were,” Turner said. “We looked soft early, and a lot of that credit goes to them.”
At the midway point of the half, UCI was just 2 for 10 from the floor with six turnovers, but the Anteaters also forced eight turnovers in that span to prevent the Lancers from pulling further away.
UCI missed its first six 3-point attempts before Hohn made a wide-open look in transition to cut the margin to 22-17 with 4:57 left in the half.
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“As the game moved forward, I thought (CBU) wore down,” Turner said.
The Anteaters won their conference opener against Cal State Bakersfield on Dec. 5 and resume Big West play on Thursday night at Cal Poly (SLO).
“We know nobody is going to feel sorry for us on the injury front,” Turner said. “We’ve had some tough luck with this team. We still have a good enough team to win every night. I’m excited about that. We’ve got to remake ourselves a little bit, and we’re in that process and I’m excited about that challenge.”
CBU hosts Seattle in its WAC opener on Saturday night.
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