Miraculous Comeback Lifts UC Irvine into Big West Tournament
March 6, 2010
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. --- UC Irvine rallied from an eight-point deficit in the final minute of regulation to defeat Cal Poly, 91-84, in overtime of the regular-season finale at San Luis Obispo Saturday night.
UCI (14-17, 6-10), which needed to win to advance to the Big West Tournament, ends up as the No. 7 seed and will face sixth-seeded Cal Poly again in the first round Wednesday night at approximately 8:15 at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Darren Moore, who scored a career-high 24 points, hit two threes in the final nine seconds of regulation, the last with .9 remaining on a fallaway from the left corner to send the game into overtime at 74-74 after UCI trailed 68-60 with a minute left.
Patrick Rembert, who had a career-high 20 points in the game, scored seven points in overtime and Moore added six.
Michael Hunter scored 19 points and with four threes, became UCI's career leader with 234, passing Ross Schraeder who made 233 from 2002-06. Hunter set the record on a three with 37.3 seconds left in regulation.
Eric Wise scored 17 points and had six rebounds, as did Zack Atkinson. Moore had a team-high eight boards and Rembert added seven.
The Anteaters opened the game hitting just 1 of 18 field goals but trailed only 33-28 at halftime.
Shawn Lewis led Cal Poly (11-18, 7-9) with 26 points while Lorenzo Keeler added 21.
"Everything fell into place for us in the last minute of regulation to allow this happen," UCI head coach Pat Douglass said.
"It was key for us in overtime that Eric Wise and Darren Moore each had four fouls but did not foul out. Darren had a remarkable performance down the stretch.
"This is a great win to get us into the tournament," Douglass added.
