UC Irvine Falls to Cal Poly at Big West Tournament
March 10, 2010
ANAHEIM, Calif. --- UC Irvine's season came to an end Wednesday night in a 73-69 loss to Cal Poly in the first round of the Big West Conference Tournament at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Cal Poly's Lorenzo Keeler scored 19 of his game-high 27 points in the second half as the Mustangs overcame a 14-point deficit. Keeler hit 16 of 18 free throws for the game and Cal Poly hit 25 of 28, including 16 of 19 in the final 20 minutes.
Darren Moore led UCI (14-18) with 19 points, hitting 7 of 11 field goals. Eric Wise recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds as he hit 7 of 13 from the floor. Patrick Rembert had 13 points, four assists and no turnovers in 38 minutes.
The Anteaters, who led 35-29 at halftime on 59-percent shooting in the opening half, built a 45-31 lead on a three by Rembert with 17:23 left in the game.
Cal Poly (12-18) went on a 13-2 run to close within 47-44 on a layup by Ryan Darling with 12:23 remaining but Rembert converted a three-point play with 11:27 left to put the `Eaters up 50-44.
The teams traded leads until the Mustangs went up for good at 67-65 on a pair of free throws by Keeler with 3:22 remaining.
UCI closed to within 70-69 on a three-point play by Moore with 25 seconds left. Cal Poly's David Hanson, who scored 15 points, hit one free throw but missed the second for a 71-69 lead with 22 seconds remaining.
UCI was setting up for a game-tying or winning shot when Wise was whistled for an offensive foul with five seconds remaining and Keeler hit two free throws after a quick foul by Michael Hunter with three seconds left for the final margin.
UCI committed just eight turnovers in the game and shot 50.9 percent from the floor. Hunter scored eight points, hitting two threes to end his career with 236 treys to rank No. 1 in UCI history. Zack Atkinson also scored eight points and tied his career high with four blocked shots while Adam Folker had seven rebounds off the bench.
"We got a good lead in the second half but then they (Cal Poly) started penetrating," UCI head coach Pat Douglass said. "We tried to go zone and they made their threes.
"We had our chances down the stretch and they did a good job of going to the foul line and converting their free throws.
"We knew it was going to be a tough ball game going in and I'm proud of the way our guys competed. We would like to have advanced in the tournament but it didn't happen tonight," Douglass added.
