SAN LUIS OBISPO — UC Irvine’s up-and-down season hit another dip, and a team that had positioned itself for a late run at the conference title less than two weeks ago now finds itself stuck in a tight pack of teams in the middle of the standings.
Alimamy Koroma had a career-high 27 points and last-place Cal Poly defeated UCI, 65-54, on Thursday night to end its eight-game losing streak and drop the Anteaters into sixth place in the standings with one game left in the regular season.
Dawson Baker had 18 points to pace the Anteaters (14-9 overall, 9-5 Big West), who were coming off a win against first-place Long Beach State. Collin Welp had 12 points.
Camren Pierce and Julien Franklin each added 11 points for Cal Poly (6-20, 2-12). Trevon Taylor and Koroma had seven rebounds apiece.
Karoma shot 8 for 17 from the field and 9 for 9 from the free-throw line as the Mustangs made all 17 of their free throws.
Cal Poly led by as much as nine points in the first half and held a 32-25 lead at halftime, but the Anteaters cut into the deficit in the second half.
Ofure Ujadughele muscled his way for a basket, then after Baker found Isaiah Lee for a 3-pointer, Ujadughele drove the paint to get UCI within 43-40 with 12:27 left.
A pair of Anteater turnovers gave Cal Poly some momentum, and the Mustangs soon reeled off a 9-0 run for a 63-47 lead with 3:32 left and closed it out from there.
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“Credit to Cal Poly. They made things happen tonight,” UCI coach Russell Turner said. “They set a tone with their effort. Cal Poly out-played us, out-worked us and beat us. They did it over 40 minutes.”
UCI, which had won 10 straight games against Cal Poly, was held to its third-lowest point total and second-lowest rebounding total (29) of the season. Both teams shot 38% from the field, but Cal Poly outrebounded UCI 36-29.
UP NEXT
UCI closes the regular season at Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday at 1 p.m., then will see how the rest of Saturday’s finales play out to learn where it will be seeded for next week’s 10-team Big West Tournament in Las Vegas. First-round games (seeds 7-10) are Tuesday with the quarterfinals scheduled for Thursday.