IRVINE — While the rest of the men’s basketball teams in the Big West Conference seem comfortable trying to outscore each other, UC Irvine is doing the opposite.

The Anteaters won another game with their defense on Saturday night, holding UC Santa Barbara nearly 19 points below its season average in a 64-60 victory at the Bren Events Center.

UCI kept its fifth straight opponent under 72 points and won for the fourth time in that span to remain tied atop the conference standings with Hawaii with two games remaining before the Big West Tournament begins March 11 in Henderson, Nevada.

“Our defense was the story of the game,” UCI coach Russell Turner said.

UCSB held its last lead at 57-55 before Kyle Evans put back a miss by Andre Henry to tie it 57-57 with 2:23 left.

Jovan Jester Jr.’s steal led to a fast-break layup by Jurian Dixon to move the Anteaters back in front 59-57 with 1:15 remaining.

Henry then stole the ball from Hosana Kitenge and drained a pull-up jumper on the other end for a 61-57 lead with 25 seconds left, and the Anteaters managed to close out the win at the free-throw line.

“We missed 10 free throws, made one three tonight and we found a way to win because we defended and rebounded,” Turner said.

Dixon and Jester scored 13 points each and Henry finished with 12 for UCI (20-10 overall, 13-5 Big West), which was held under 70 points for the fourth straight game.

Colin Smith scored all of his team-leading 16 points in the second half for UCSB (18-12, 11-8), which beat the Anteaters in their first meeting on Feb. 7 in Santa Barbara, shooting 50.9% from the floor in the 84-79 victory.

UCI, which came into Saturday’s game third in the nation in field-goal percentage defense (37.9%), held UCSB to 42.9% in the rematch.

“Our defense was the story of the game and we set the tone in the first half,” Turner said.

The Anteaters led by as many as 12 points in the first half before taking a 32-23 advantage into the locker room.

The first blocked shot of the game by Evans led to a dunk by Jester for an early 8-2 lead.

Marvin McGhee IV sank a 3-pointer for the second time following an offensive rebound to cut it to 15-10, but the Gauchos were still stuck on 10 points halfway through the first half.

Evans converted a dunk in transition to give UCI its first double-digit lead at 24-13 with 7:10 left in the half.

Tama Isaac made two free throws in a one-and-one situation to give the Anteaters their biggest lead of the opening half at 30-18 with 3:29 remaining.

Aidan Mahaney, who came in averaging a team-high 15.4 ppg for UCSB, didn’t score his first points until making a short turnaround jumper with 3:10 left to cut it to 30-20, and he made a 3-pointer with one minute remaining to make it 32-23 and that score remained at halftime.

UCSB started the second half by shooting an air ball on its first possession and turned the ball over on its next two, but UCI couldn’t capitalize on the other end and the Gauchos began to get hot from the perimeter, making three of their first four 3-point attempts in the second half to cut the deficit to 37-32 with 16:28 left.

The Gauchos’ first free throws of the game got them within 37-34, and Smith sank his third 3-pointer of the second half to tie it 37-37.

Evans blew a layup and the Gauchos capped their 12-0 surge with a drive by Smith for a 41-37 lead.

Henry’s three-point play not only halted the UCSB run, but sparked a 10-0 response by UCI that moved the hosts back in front 47-41.

UCI then missed four straight free throws, allowing the Gauchos to cut the deficit back to one.

“Built a lead on them that we then gave away at the start of the second half again, but our defensive level on the game-point possessions late was good,” Turner said. “We knocked the ball loose and created opportunities for us. We needed that.”

UCI was coming off a last-second win at Cal State Northridge on Thursday night, getting a basket from Derin Saran off an inbounds pass in the 68-67 victory that broke a three-way deadlock of first-place teams.

CSUN went into Saturday’s games averaging 81.5 ppg, but the loss to UCI might have dispirited the Matadors, who lost 95-84 at UC Riverside (10-21, 5-14).

Hawaii (21-7, 13-5) kept its share of first place when Dre Bullock hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer in an 87-85 win at Cal State Fullerton earlier Saturday.

UP NEXT

UCI hosts Cal Poly (SLO) on Thursday at 7 p.m.

BIG WEST STANDINGS

Through Saturday, Feb. 28

Team – Overall, Big West

Hawaii – 21-7, 13-5

UC Irvine – 20-10, 13-5

UC San Diego – 21-9, 11-7

Cal State Northridge – 18-12, 11-7

UC Santa Barbara – 18-12, 11-8

UC Davis – 17-12, 10-8

Cal State Fullerton – 15-15, 10-8

Cal Poly (SLO) – 13-17, 9-9

Long Beach State – 9-21, 5-13

UC Riverside – 10-21, 5-14

Cal State Bakersfield – 8-22, 2-16

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