UC Irvine is on the mark in 77-63 win

UC Irvine went on a torrid shooting stretch in the first half, then held off a late charge by Long Beach State and defeated the 49ers, 77-63, in the first round of the Big West Conference tournament Wednesday night at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The No. 5-seeded Anteaters (16-15) shot 72% in the first half and made 16 of their final 17 shots before halftime to turn a 10-2 deficit into a 47-31 halftime lead.

They extended it to 64-44 with 11 minutes to play before No. 8 Long Beach State (6-25) clamped down on defense and closed to within 10 at 73-63 with 1:57 to play.

But the 49ers committed two turnovers and missed two three-point attempts in their final four possessions and the Anteaters held on.

“I thought from the 14-minute mark of the first half was as well as any game we’ve played,” Anteaters Coach Pat Douglass said. “A lot of guys canned shots that made the offense look a lot better.”

The Anteaters will play No. 4-seeded Pacific in a quarterfinal tonight at approximately 8 p.m. The Tigers are on a four-game win streak, but split with Irvine this season.

Darren Fells had 19 points, Patrick Sanders had 18 and Marcus McIntosh had 16 for UC Irvine, which shot 58.8% for the game, including 47.1% on three-point attempts.

Donovan Morris had 25 and Greg Plater had 17 for Long Beach State, which shot a respectable 47.9% but dug too deep a hole during the first half.

“Defensively, the last eight minutes, 10 minutes of the first half, it was a combination of them shooting awful well and us not defending,” Long Beach State Coach Dan Monson said. “We just can’t let the floodgates open like they did.”

UC Riverside 62, Cal Poly 54 -- The No. 7-seeded Highlanders made 10 of 13 free throws in the final 1:17 and held the sixth-seeded Mustangs to one field goal in the final 5:40.

Larry Cunningham scored nine of his game-high 23 points in the final 3:31 for the Highlanders, who limited Cal Poly to 15 of 52 shooting for the game and four of 22 in the first half.

The 15 field goals and 28.8% shooting were the second lowest totals for Cal Poly (12-17) this season.

Riverside (9-20) will play third-seeded Cal State Fullerton tonight. The Titans, who tied UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Northridge for the conference title, swept the Highlanders this season, winning, 77-47, on Jan. 7 and 72-61 on Jan. 23.

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TODAY’S GAMES

Cal State Fullerton (21-8)

vs. UC Riverside (9-20), 6 p.m.

Pacific (21-9) vs.

UC Irvine (16-15), 8.

FRIDAY’S SEMIFINALS

UC Santa Barbara (23-7) vs.

second-round winner, 5:30 p.m.

Cal State Northridge (20-9) vs. second-round winner, 8.

SATURDAY’S FINAL

8 p.m.