IRVINE — The revenge portion of the UC Irvine men’s basketball schedule is going well.

The Anteaters hosted Cal Poly on Thursday night, looking to clinch a double-bye into the Big West Tournament semifinals next week and also make up for a six-point loss to the Mustangs three weeks ago in San Luis Obispo.

UCI accomplished both with a 107-85 victory at the Bren Events Center.

“We shouldn’t have let them beat us in Cal Poly and today we got that one back,” UCI coach Russell Turner said. “We have a chance to play for a [regular-season] title on Saturday and I’m happy about that.”

UCI (21-10 overall, 14-5 Big West) earned the same payback against UC Santa Barbara last Saturday, beating the Gauchos by four points after losing by five as UCSB on Feb. 7.

UCI’s opponent in the regular-season finale on Saturday, UC Davis, also edged the visiting Anteaters by three points on Jan. 17.

Five players scored in double figures against Cal Poly, led by Jurian Dixon with 22 points.

Kyle Evans added 17 points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots, Andre Henry scored 16 off the bench, Harrison Carrington scored 14 in a reserve role, and Akiva McBirney-Griffin scored a career-high 12 points for the Anteaters.

Cayden Ward scored 16 points and Hamad Mousa had 15 for Cal Poly (13-18, 9-10).

Mustangs guard Guzman Vasilic (18) and forward Austin Goode (17) were the leading scorers in the first game against UCI, both putting up their season highs, but Vasilic was held to nine points and Goode to 13 the second time around.

“I did a really poor job at Cal Poly. I adjusted and played us more small in that game, and I didn’t go into the game thinking I was going to do that. It just ended up that way,” Turner said. “Cal Poly, when we played them there, was the tougher, more physical team, and so we had the week to prepare for our performance here tonight.”

The Anteaters led by as many as 15 in the first half before taking a 52-42 advantage into intermission.

UCI didn’t trail again after McBirney-Griffin put back his own miss for a 9-8 lead with 16:47 left in the first half.

The Anteaters broke the final tie after they collected two offensive rebounds following missed 3-point attempts and McBirney-Griffin was fouled after the second rebound before making two free throws for a 23-21 lead with 11:01 left in the half.

“I give special credit to Akiva McBirney-Griffin and Elijah Chol, who just asserted themselves with strength and power the way I expect them to be able to do when a team switches like Cal Poly does,” Turner said.

Derin Saran had back-to-back steals in the backcourt for UCI that led to baskets, the second by Evans for a 29-24 lead with 8:23 remaining.

Dixon made a wide-open 3-pointer from the baseline to give the Anteaters their biggest lead of the first half at 52-37 with 1:20 left.

The Mustangs scored the final five points of the half to make it a 10-point deficit at the break.

All 10 players who played in the first half for UCI had at least one field goal, helping the Anteaters shoot 50% from the floor.

UCI kept the Mustangs from getting any closer than eight points early in the second half and then used a 13-6 run to go back up by 15 and Cal Poly never got back within single digits.

Evans blocked his fifth shot of the game before Dixon scored on a dunk at the other end to extend the lead to 92-78.

Evans has 107 blocks on the season to break the Big West single-season record. He came in leading the nation at 3.4 blocks per game.

“There’s nobody in college basketball doing it better than he is and now he’s shown there’s nobody in the Big West who’s rejected so many shots,” Turner said. “You wouldn’t look at him and expect that because he’s not that big, but he’s got a special brain and talent combination.”

UP NEXT

UC Davis at UC Irvine, Saturday, 5 p.m.

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