UC Irvine 56, California 52

There was no denying that the Anteaters’ victory over the Golden Bears at the Bren Center was the biggest since Coach Pat Douglass arrived four seasons ago.

Irvine (3-1) got 19 points from senior forward Ben Jones and 13 from Cal transfer Sean Jackson for their first victory against a Pacific 10 Conference team since defeating Oregon State, 89-73, in 1994. It was only the third time since 1990 that an Irvine team has beaten a team from the Pac-10. Two of those came against the Bears.

Guard Shantay Legans scored 16 and forward Sean Lampley added 12 and had nine rebounds for Cal (1-3), which has lost seven consecutive road games dating to last season.

Irvine scored nine unanswered points to take a 48-36 lead with 8:25 left. Cal rallied, getting within 52-51 with 2:49 to go on a layup by Legans.

But J.R. Christ and Jerry Green combined to make four free throws to secure the victory, which sent the crowd of 4,904--largest since 1996--spilling onto the Bren Center floor at the final buzzer.