Bent Leuchten leads UC Irvine past UC Davis to extend home streak ...Middle East

IRVINE — Matching up against UC Irvine center Bent Leuchten is proving to be a tall order for the rest of the Big West Conference.

Leuchten demonstrated his worth again on Saturday afternoon, contributing team highs of 21 points, 13 rebounds and six assists for the Anteaters in a 73-66 victory over UC Davis at the Bren Events Center.

The 7-foot-1 senior from Germany made all nine of his free throw attempts and both of his 3-point tries to help UCI win its program-record 22nd consecutive home game and maintain its slim lead atop the Big West standings.

“Bent’s a really good basketball player, he’s a really tough dude,” UCI coach Russell Turner said. “I’m happy to see the progress that he’s making, but let’s also not forget that he’s great because of the guys around him. He needs to be out there with good basketball players, who share the ball and make good decisions. We’ve got a bunch of those that also make him look good.”

Two of those are guards Justin Hohn and Myles Che, who each scored 17 points for UCI (20-3 overall, 10-1 Big West).

“It’s not easy for me to say any one of them is more valuable than the other when we’re playing well,” Turner said.

The Anteaters trailed by one point at halftime, but took the lead for good at 37-36 when Leuchten scored after grabbing an offensive rebound.

Che scored with his left hand high off the glass to give UCI its biggest lead at 41-36 with 16:44 left in the half, prompting a timeout by the Aggies.

Davis (12-10, 6-5) cut the deficit to three with 9:03 left, but Che sank a 3-pointer in front of his own bench, was fouled and converted the free throw to complete the four-point play and give the Anteaters a 58-51 lead with 8:24 remaining.

UCI took its first double-digit advantage at 66-56 on a three-point play by Leuchten with 4:59 to go.

Hohn scored the Anteaters’ final points when he sank a 3-pointer to beat the shot clock and extend the lead to 73-60 with 2:31 left.

“This team has shown a tendency to reduce their level if they don’t feel appropriate desperation,” Turner said. “There was desperation, and I think our guys felt a little bit of it and that raised our level. We had been crying and whining, acting soft and entitled, and that’s this team’s occasional weakness. And I told them at halftime, ‘I’d rather lose than be babies, crybabies, whiners,’ and I thought they responded in the second half.”

Davis scored the first seven points of the game before UCI took its first lead 10-9 on a 3-pointer from Leuchten to beat the shot clock.

Leuchten came in shooting 50% from 3-point range (13 for 26) this season.

“It opens the game up,” Leuchten said of his 3-point shooting. “I think that was the reason I got that many assists today because they had to help out on the 3 when I was popping. That left them wide open a couple of times and made the game a lot easier.”

The Aggies extended their lead back to seven on three occasions, the last on a 3-pointer by Carl Daughtery Jr. that made it 34-27 with 1:22 left in the half.

After Leuchten sank another 3 off an inbounds pass, Jurian Dixon grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it in as he was fouled with 6.5 seconds left. Dixon made the free throw to cut it to 34-33 and that score remained at the half.

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The Anteaters shot just 35.7% from the floor in the opening half, compared to 44.8% for Davis. UCI also committed 10 turnovers, but forced 13 on the defensive end.

T.Y. Johnson finished with 21 points (on 8-for-20 shooting), six rebounds and five assists to lead the Aggies, but he had six of his team’s 17 turnovers. Connor Sevilla added 11 points, and Niko Rocak had nine points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots.

UCI shot 43.4% from the field for the game and held the Aggies to 38.3%. The Anteaters, among the nation’s best at the free-throw line, shot 18 for 20.

“We need to continue to improve, but I am excited for what remains possible for this group,” said Turner, whose team hosts second-place UC San Diego in a critical game next Saturday night. “Really excited and appreciative of the support we’re getting now around this community and, hopefully, we’ll continue to grow.”

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