STOCKTON – UC Irvine rallied from 14 points down in the second half to defeat Pacific, 70-67, in a nonconference game Friday night.
Junior center Mamadou Ndiaye had 19 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. He scored what turned out to be the winning basket on a dunk off Luke Nelson’s feed with 1:18 left to put the Anteaters up 68-67. Dominique Dunning scored the game’s final basket on a drive with 19 seconds remaining as Pacific missed a late 3-point attempt.
Junior guard Jaron Martin added 16 points off the bench, including 10 in the final 6:30. Senior guard Alex Young had 11 points, six rebounds and four assists while senior forward Mike Best also scored 11 points, all in the first half, for the Anteaters (6-2).
“We didn’t play that well tonight, but I give Pacific credit for that,” UCI head coach Russell Turner said. “If we want to be a championship-caliber team, we need to find ways to win these types of games and we did.
“I thought Mamadou was terrific in the second half.”
The Tigers (1-6) built a 52-38 lead with 12:56 to play before UC Irvine mounted its rally.
Alex Kobre led Pacific with 24 points off the bench, hitting 9 of 14 field goals, including 4 of 9 from 3-point range. Anthony Townes added 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting.
UC Irvine built an early 14-5 lead before the Tigers went on an 18-1 run to go ahead 23-15 with 9 minutes left in the opening half. Pacific led 37-33 at halftime.
The Anteaters outrebounded Pacific, 38-30, pulling down 14 offensive boards.
UC Irvine plays at Saint Mary’s on Sunday at 4 p.m.
