by IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine controlled the boards and opened the Big West Conference schedule with a 74-60 victory over Hawaii at the Bren Events Center.
Center Brad Greene (Shoshone/Paiute) recorded his fifth career double-double, pulling down a career-high 21 rebounds, which is a Bren Center record and the most since Bob Thornton had 22 in 1984. He had 13 points in the victory, hitting 6-12 from the floor. Greene broke CSF’s Cedric Ceballos record of 18 boards set in 1990. 21 rebounds is tied for fourth in the country so far this year.
With the victory, head coach Russell Turner tied Pat Douglass as the all-time winningest coach with 197.
It is the third consecutive year, UCI has started conference play with a win.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Sophomore Collin Welp led UCI with 18 points, going 6-12 from the field with two threes
>Evan Leonard added 14 points followed by Eyassu Worku with 13
>Hawaii knocked down eight threes to UCI’s five, but the Anteaters were better at the line, hitting 17-22 (77.3%), while the Warriors were 11-20 (55.0%)
>UCI out-rebounded UH49-34 and held advantages in points in the paint (32-14), points off turnovers (10-6) and second chance points (13-7)
>Samuta Avea led the Warriors with 14 points
TURNING POINTS
FIRST HALF
>UCI came out strong scoring the first eight points on baskets by Aiden Krause, Leonard, Greene and Worku, forcing a Hawaii timeout at 17:24
>Out of the time out, UCI got free throws from Leonard (17:11) and Krause (16:41) to go up 11-0 before Hawaii finally got on the board at 16:02(11-2)
>Back-to-back baskets by Welp extended the lead to 17-7 at 11:42
>A 12-2 run, which included 10 straight by Hawaii tied the game at 19-19 at 8:44
>Welp snapped a four minute scoring draught with a pair of free throws at 7:04 (21-19)
>Hawaii would take its first lead on a three-pointer by Samula Avea at 6:10 (22-21)
>UCI responded with an 10-1 run which was capped by consecutive treys by Isaiah Lee (4:42) and Welp (4:06) to take a 31-23 advantage
>A Krause jumper (3:26) was followed by two Greene layups (2:51,1:23) 37-25
>Hawaii turned the ball over on its last possession and with 0:5 on the clock Worku drove the length of the court and laid the ball in as time expired (39-25)
SECOND HALF
>UCI held a 45-32 lead at 15:45 on a Worku jumper before Hawaii went on a 10-2 spurt to close within 50-46 at 11:17. Justin Hemsley had five points in the run for the Warriors
>Welp sparked an 8-0 run with a three-pointer to increase the Anteater lead to 58-46 at 7:44
>A three-pointer from Hawaii’s Eddie Stansberry cut UCI’s led to 69-60 with 2:03 remaining
>A rebound putback by Greene (1:40) was followed by a three-pointer by Leonard (1:02) to solidify the the 74-60 win
