Riverside can’t hold off Irvine

The UC Irvine men’s basketball team found its postseason legs Wednesday night, courtesy of an early 18-point hole.

The Anteaters finally caught UC Riverside in the closing minutes of the Big West Conference tournament opener and hung on for a 53-52 victory at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Mark Kelley gave fifth-seeded Irvine the lead for good, 53-51, when he scored off an offensive rebound with one minute left. Dedrick Bates then converted one of two free throws for the eighth-seeded Highlanders (7-24) and Irvine followed with its 16th turnover. But Riverside could not convert on its last two possessions.

“Obviously, we had our backs against the wall,” Irvine Coach Pat Douglass said. “When you’re down 18 and it’s the end of the year, you can be thinking about vacation a little bit.”

Irvine (14-17) committed nine turnovers in the first 12 minutes as Riverside built its sizable lead. The Anteaters narrowed the deficit to 34-26 at the half but could not catch Riverside until Nic Campbell made two free throws with 4:32 left.

Patrick Sanders scored 15 points for Irvine, Campbell had 10 and Kelley and Darren Fells contributed nine each.

Larry Cunningham scored 19 points to lead Riverside, which had only one victory in 14 conference games this season.

Pacific 71, Cal State Northridge 54 -- The sixth-seeded Matadors fell behind by double digits midway through the first half and never recovered in losing to the seventh-seeded Tigers.

It was Northridge’s 10th defeat in the last 11 games against Pacific and dropped its all-time tournament record against the Tigers to 0-4.

Northridge (14-17) held its last lead, 8-6, early in the opening half.

Pacific then went on a 17-5 run and maintained the double-digit advantage for most of the game. The Matadors cut the deficit to nine with 11:27 left, but the Tigers reeled off 20 of the next 29 points to put the game out of reach.

Thomas Shewmake, a 6-foot-10, 250-pound senior center for Northridge, was unable to benefit much from his three-inch size advantage, producing a team-high 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Reggie Vezia and Steffan Johnson scored 16 points each to lead Pacific (12-18), which ended a four-game losing streak.

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TONIGHT’S BIG WEST TOURNAMENT GAMES

No. 3 CAL STATE FULLERTON (19-8) vs.

No. 7 PACIFIC (12-18), 6 p.m.

* Watch for: The Titans are trying to shake a late-season stumble, when they lost four of their last five games, fell out of a No. 2 seeding and lost a bye into the semifinals. Pacific, winners of two of the last three conference tournaments, ended a four-game losing streak by defeating Cal State Northridge in the first round.

No. 4 UC SANTA BARBARA (18-10) vs.

No. 5 UC IRVINE (14-17), approx. 8:30

* Watch for: Gauchos guard Alex Harris, the conference’s leading scorer, is averaging 26.8 points in his last five games. Santa Barbara, prone to streaks, has won three in a row. Irvine gave up only 18 second-half points and came back from an 18-point deficit in its first-round victory over UC Riverside.

-- PETER YOON