UC Irvine needs a victory in Big West Conference finals to advance to the NCAA Tourney

Jeron Artest of UCI takes a shot in Friday’s semifinals. Artest had nine points in the victory. (Photo courtesy Big West Conference)

UC Irvine’s men’s basketball team goes for the Big West Tournament championship Saturday night when it faces No. 1 seeded UC Santa Barbara.

The game is scheduled to be shown on ESPN2 at 8:30 p.m. The winner earns the conference’s automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.

The No.-2 seeded Anteaters advanced with a 78-61 victory over UC Riverside in the semifinals Friday night at Michelob ULTRA Arena.

UCI will appear in its ninth tournament final and fourth-consecutive. The Anteaters are the defending Big West champions.

Dawson Baker and Collin Welp each scored 17 points to lead UCI (18-8). D.J. Davis added 14 points and Brad Greene grabbed seven rebounds and had three blocks for the Anteaters.

Arinze Chidom and Jock Perry scored 16 points to lead UC Riverside (14-8).

UCI made 46 percent (23-of-50) in field goals and sank 26 of 30 free throw attempts (.867).

“This was a good college basketball game for our program,” said UCI Coach Russell Turner. “I thought we really came out and executed well on both offense and defense. It might have been our best game of the year and it came at a critical moment, when it’s not easy to play well. This team has answered the challenges that I have given them and we have earned the opportunity to play against a really talented UC Santa Barbara team tomorrow. I also want to give credit to UC Riverside for an outstanding year.”

Source: UCI Athletic Communications