Jan. 28, 2010

Box Score

IRVINE, Calif. --- Joe Ford scored 12 points and Terrell Smith added 11 points and six rebounds to lead Pacific over UC Irvine, 61-50, in a Big West Conference game at the Bren Center Thursday night.

Michael Nunnally added 10 points for the first-place Tigers, who improved to 13-6 overall and 6-1 in the Big West. The victory was the fourth straight for Pacific and the sixth in its last seven games.

Darren Moore and Michael Hunter scored 11 points for UCI (9-12, 3-6), which lost for the fifth time in the past six games. Moore had seven rebounds, Hunter five assists and Eric Wise added nine points and a game-high eight rebounds. Adam Folker recorded five points and six rebounds while Pavol Losonsky had four points and four boards. Jonas Lalehzadeh made his first UCI start and scored four points before fouling out.

The Tigers, who led 39-27 at halftime, shot 47.6 percent from the field for the game and held the Anteaters to just 35.2 percent. Pacific hit 17 of 26 free throws to UCI's 10 of 17 and outscored the Anteaters 30-16 in the paint.

After a brief 1-0 lead by UCI, the Tigers took the lead for good in the first minute of the game. Pacific led by 15 points several times, the last at 49-34 on a dunk by Smith with 12:23 remaining in the game.

The Anteaters closed to within 57-50 on a basket by Wise with 1:40 left but Pat Eveland and Demetrece Young each hit two free throws to close out the scoring for the Tigers, who defeated UCI for the second time in 12 days.

"Pacific is a physical defensive team that provides a tough matchup," UCI head coach Pat Douglass said. "I thought if we could have hit a few baskets when we were down by 11 in the second half we might gain some momentum, but we did not convert on some key possessions."