University makes second-half run to get past Irvine

IRVINE – University's boys basketball team couldn't get much going in the first half of Friday night's Pacific Coast League game with Irvine.

But the Trojans made it happen in the second half, rallying from an 11-point halftime deficit to defeat the Vaqueros, 49-42, at Irvine.

The Trojans (10-10, 3-2) came out firing in the third quarter, going on an 8-0 run to cut the Irvine lead to three to get back into the contest.

"We went in there and realized they made their run and it was just a matter of calming our guys down and getting them back to playing basketball the way we know how to play," said University's acting co-coach Kenny Shin.

Shin and Ahmed Kikalaye are filling in for head coach Mike Dinneen, who is recovering from foot surgery and expected to return Thursday for the game with Woodbridge.

"After the Beckman game (a loss) we realized we were either going to turn our season around or we were just going to fold up shop, and I'm proud of our guys," Shin said. "It's a huge way to respond with three league wins in a row."

Irvine (8-13, 0-5) looked like it would hold on for its first league victory when it held a 35-32 lead going into the final quarter. But the Trojans tied the score, 35-35, on a pair of free throws by Chris DaSilva with 7:30 remaining in the game.

DaSilva, who led the Trojans with 13 points, scored seven points in the final quarter to help the Trojans outscore the Vaqueros, 17-7, in the final quarter.

DaSilva's basket with about three minutes left gave the Trojans a 43-38 lead. Mladen Milovic sank a shot with 2:30 left to make it 46-38, sending the Trojans on their way to a victory.

"We went into the locker room and had to figure out how to stop turning the ball over and make our offense work for us," DaSilva said. "We couldn't knock down our shots and we kept turning it over. But in the second half, we managed to turn it around and went on that nice run at the beginning of the third quarter and that helped us get back in the game.

"We started 0-2, now we're on a three-game streak and we have Woodbridge next week. That's going to be a big game for us."

Arya Anvar scored 12 points and Milovic added 11 points and 13 rebounds for the Trojans.

Irvine was led by Matthew Kerns (12 points) and Cameron Foster (10 points).