IRVINE — Kyle Evans came up big for the UC Irvine basketball team again on Thursday night at the Bren Events Center.
The 6-foot-10 senior center from Aliso Viejo had 19 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocked shots to lead the Anteaters to an 87-76 overtime win against visiting Hawaii in a matchup of first-place teams in the Big West Conference.
Evans came in leading the nation in blocked shots at 3.2 per game.
“Kyle Evans is just a dominant factor,” UCI coach Russell Turner said. “What an incredible performance from him again.”
Evans had plenty of help along the way.
Jurian Dixon had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the first double-double of his two-year UCI career.
Andre Henry scored eight of his 17 points in overtime, and freshman point guard Tama Isaac contributed 15 points and seven assists for the Anteaters (15-7 overall, 8-2 Big West).
Isaac shot 5 for 9 from the field and the Anteaters improved to 11-0 this season when he converts multiple field goals.
“Tama Isaac was terrific,” Turner said. “He’s just got a great competitive brain, defensive sets, ability to make plays.”
UCI scored the first seven points of overtime, including five from Henry. His fadeaway jumper stretched the lead to 82-74 with 1:25 left and the Anteaters went 3 for 4 from the free-throw line in the final 28 seconds before Dixon punctuated the win with a dunk at the buzzer.
“That’s a great win for us tonight,” Turner said. “We told the guys, this is worth two in some ways because they had already beat us. So, we needed to find a way to win it and then we did, and I’m pleased with that.”
UCI looked like it could wrap up the win in regulation after unleashing an 11-0 run to take a 69-62 lead with 2:49 left, but the Rainbow Warriors tied it with two free throws from Isaac Johnson with 4.1 seconds left and Harrison Carrington missed a 10-footer at the buzzer for the Anteaters.
“It was the transition plays that won it for us,” Turner said. “We were not very good in the halfcourt in crunch time again. We’ve got to get better about that, but I’m really pleased that we won because this was a big game.”
The Anteaters, playing their first home game in nearly three weeks, closed the first half with a 9-2 run to take a 37-28 lead into the intermission.
Isaiah Kerr made two free throws with four seconds left in the half to cut the deficit to six, but Isaac spotted Henry open on the baseline and he sank the 3-pointer to give UCI its biggest lead of the opening half.
Isaac Johnson scored 17 points and Harry Rouhliadeff had 15 to lead the Warriors (15-5, 7-3), who edged the Anteaters, 67-66, on Jan. 10 in Honolulu when Hunter Erickson hit a fadeaway jumper from the free-throw line as time expired.
UCI came into the game third in the nation in field-goal percentage defense (37.5%) and Hawaii was 11th (38.9%). The Warriors also came in sixth in defending the 3-point line (27.5%), and the Anteaters were tied for third in blocks (6.1).
This was the final regular-season meeting between Hawaii and UCI before the Warriors leave for the Mountain West Conference next season.
Rouhliadeff made a couple of early 3-pointers to give Hawaii a 6-4 lead.
Evans made his presence known early, blocking a shot by Gytis Nemeiksa and then causing Dre Bullock to travel, one of five Hawaii turnovers in the opening eight minutes.
Evans blocked three shots in the first nine minutes and four in the opening half, forcing Hawaii to move its offense away from the rim. Five of the Warriors’ first six baskets came from 3-point range.
The Anteaters missed five of their first six free-throw attempts before finishing 19 for 29.
BIG WEST STANDINGS
Through Thursday, Jan. 29
Team – Overall, Big West
UC Irvine – 15-7, 8-2
Hawaii – 15-5, 7-3
UC Santa Barbara – 14-7, 7-3
UC San Diego – 15-7, 5-5
UC Davis – 12-9, 5-5
Cal State Northridge – 12-10, 5-5
Cal State Fullerton – 10-12, 5-5
Cal Poly (SLO) – 8-14, 4-6
Long Beach State – 8-14, 4-6
UC Riverside – 8-14, 3-7
Cal State Bakersfield – 8-14, 2-8
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