SANTA BARBARA — Pierre Crockrell II had 14 points and seven assists, and UC Irvine remained locked in offensively to earn its fifth straight win and remain alone atop the Big West Conference standings.
The Anteaters (18-6 overall, 11-1 Big West) shot 53.2% from the field, including a blistering 63.6% in the second half, to defeat UC Santa Barbara, 76-61, on Thursday night at the Thunderdome.
Devin Tillis had 13 points, Derin Saran scored 11 and Andre Henry added 10 for UCI, which outscored UCSB 44-24 in the paint and had a 14-2 advantage in second-chance points. Carter Welling added seven points and a career-high eight rebounds.
Ajay Mitchell had 17 points to pace the Gauchos (13-9, 6-6), while Cole Anderson added 16. Josh Pierre-Louis finished with 12 points and three steals.
The Anteaters actually struggled from the field early, missing eight of their first 10 shots as the Gauchos opened a 13-5 lead. A Saran 3-pointer helped settle things, and Crockrell made four consecutive jumpers, the last one a turnaround bank shot to give UCI a 21-16 lead. The Anteaters led by 10 late in the half and took a 33-24 advantage to the locker room at halftime.
A Henry jumper and a Tillis layup kickstarted things for UCI in the second half, then a Justin Hohn jumper and a Welling dunk started a 10-2 run that pushed the margin to 20 points (52-32) with 13:48 remaining. A Tillis jumper gave the Anteaters their largest lead of the night at 60-36 midway through the second half.
UCSB used a 7-0 run to get within 70-57 before a Henry layup with 3:07 left stopped the momentum and UCI coasted across the finish line from there.
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UCI plays at UC Riverside on Saturday at 5 p.m.
