UC Irvine completes stat sheet in Life Pacific blowout – Orange County Register

IRVINE — Andre Henry scored a season-high 14 points and all 15 UC Irvine players scored as their game against NAIA-level Life Pacific was the offset he was expected to have in a victory of 116-54 Monday night at the Bren Events Center.

Henry shot 6 for 7 from the floor and matched his season high with five rebounds. Fellow UCI reserves JC Butler and Chazz Hutchison (nine rebounds) added 10 points each while starters Bent Leuchten and Devin Tillis also scored 10 points each.

Ofure Ujadughele had nine points, including a 40-footer when time expired, Emilis Butkus had seven points, five rebounds and three steals, and Pierre Crockrell added six points, six assists and seven rebounds as UCI ( 4-1) shot 67% from the field (50 for 75) and outshot his significantly smaller opponent 55-12.

UCI had a 17-14 lead about six minutes into the game and then went on a 14-0 run to take control. San Dimas-based Life Pacific closed at 40-30 with 2:59 left in the first half, then the hosts raced 9-0 and went to the locker room with a 52-33 lead at half-time.

The second half became glorified practice as the UCI outscored their guests 64-21. The final statistics were, as expected, all heavily tilted in favor of the UCI. The Anteaters had an 82-14 advantage in points in the paint, a 20-0 advantage in quick break points and a 20-4 margin in second chance points. UCI reserves scored 78 points.

“We did what we were supposed to do tonight, we raised our level defensively,” said UCI coach Russell Turner. “We weren’t very sharp in our first six minutes and I felt like it was very comparable to how we played at Pepperdine (a 64-55 loss on Saturday) in some ways, fair in terms of overall commitment.

“Thanks to our guys who came off the bench and really upped the intensity. There were a lot of guys who performed well tonight and that’s my message to the team – there will be nights where we have to rely on everyone.

Kyler Villareal scored 15 points on 7-for-12 shooting and Adam Vasquez had 14 points to lead Life Pacific (0-2), which shot 35.6% (21-for-59) overall.

No UCI starters played more than 21 minutes (three of them played 15 minutes or less), 10 Anteaters played at least 10 minutes, and all 15 played at least 6:45 into the blowout.

NEXT

The UCI heads to the Las Vegas Holiday Classic, where the Anteaters take on Nicholls State on Friday at 4 p.m.