Irvine Puts a Scare Into No. 14 Ohio : College basketball: Anteaters are caught at buzzer in regulation before losing in overtime, 81-72.

Gary Trent overcame a sluggish start Friday to score 25 points, including two that tied it at the buzzer and six in overtime, to lead No. 14 Ohio University to an 81-72 first-round win over UC Irvine in the Hawkeye Invitational.

Ohio (5-1) will play Pepperdine or host Iowa in tonight’s championship. The Waves and Hawkeyes met later Friday in the other first-round contest.

Trent, held to four first-half points, scored on a layup to tie the score at 66-66 as the final horn sounded to force overtime.

Ford scored 15, Gus Johnson 12 and Jason Terry 11 for the Bobcats, who made nine of 10 free throws in the overtime to secure the win.

Raimonds Miglinieks scored 17, Chris Brown 13 and Khalid Channell 10 for Irvine (0-2), which squandered a 39-30 halftime edge but still led 66-62 on Brown’s two free throws with 1:05 remaining in regulation.

A bucket by Trent made it 66-64 with 55 seconds left, and the Anteaters failed to ice the game when Miglinieks and Kevin Simmons each missed the front ends of one-and-one opportunities in the final 28 seconds.