IRVINE — The UC Irvine men’s basketball team has established one important trend this season.

During the ups and downs of an inconsistent season, the Anteaters remain difficult to score against.

UCI upped its defensive intensity in the second half against UC Riverside on Thursday night and pulled away for a 66-56 win in a Big West Conference game at the Bren Events Center.

Collin Welp had 15 points and 13 rebounds, JC Butler scored 13 points, and Emmanuel Tshimanga contributed 10 points and six rebounds off the bench for the Anteaters (11-7 overall, 6-3 Big West), who won their fifth consecutive game since a three-game losing streak.

UCI came into the game ninth in the nation in fewest points allowed at (59.2)

“It was a really fine defensive performance pretty much all the way around,” said UCI coach Russell Turner, whose teams typically rank among the nation’s best in several defensive statistics. “They made a couple really tough (shots) down the stretch, but we still held them to a low number.”

Dominick Pickett scored 14 points and Callum McRae, Zyon Pullin and Wil Tattersall added 10 points each for UC Riverside (12-8, 5-4), which shot 36.7% overall.

“We just couldn’t shoot the ball down the stretch,” UCR coach Mike Magpayo said.

The Anteaters turned the game around with a 16-4 run that turned a four-point deficit into an eight-point lead with 8:27 remaining.

UCI went ahead by double digits, 51-40, on a 3-pointer by Dawson Baker with 4:55 left and UCR couldn’t get closer than seven the rest of the way.

“That’s some of the best ball we’ve played in the second half,” Turner said. “We needed to play it then.”

UCR held UCI to 28.6% shooting in the first half, but shot 37% on its end of the floor, keeping it a two-point game at the half.

UCI leads the nation in 3-point defense (25.8) and held UCR to 1 for 7 from long distance in the opening half and 6 for 21 for the game (28.6).

Welp matched his career high with 30 points against the Highlanders in a 68-51 road win on Jan. 8, but was just 1 for 9 in the first half of the rematch with four points, though he grabbed nine rebounds.

UCR used a 7-0 run to take its biggest lead of the first half at 19-12 with 5:14 left.

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Baker had no points and three turnovers when he drove to the basket and scored just as the first half expired to cut UCR’s lead to 25-23.

“We had two dumb fouls early and after that I thought we were really disciplined,” Turner said. “We were really aggressive, appropriately. We contested shots well.”

The Anteaters scored the first seven points of the second half to stretch the run to 9-0 and take their first lead of the game.

Riverside came back with a 9-0 run of its own, however, with Pickett scoring seven of those points.

Pickett played in his 124th game at UCR, becoming the school’s all-time leader in games played. Pickett was a student manager in his first season at UCR.