Luke Nelson scored a game-high 29 points tonight to help UC Irvine race past Hawai’i, 72-58, in a Big West Conference men’s basketball showdown.
A spirited black-clad, “Black-Out” crowd of about 6,800 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the Anteaters improve to 15-12 overall, 8-3 in the Big West. Gibson Johnson scored 19 points, Noah Allen added 18 points and Sheriff Drammeh contributed 12 points for the Warriors, whose season-high four-game win streak was snapped to fall to 12-12, 6-5.
UH led early, 14-7, but went cold over the next nine minutes as UC Irvine got hot and went on a blistering 20-2 run capped by Max Hazzard’s jumper from the right wing to make it 27-16 with 3:45 remaining until halftime.