Leonard scores 22; UC Irvine beats UC Davis 71-69 in OT
IRVINE, Calif. (AP) — Evan Leonard scored five of his 22 points in the final 1:42 and Max Hazzard finished with 15 points to help UC Irvine beat UC Davis 71-69 in overtime Thursday night in the Big West Conference opener for both teams.
Tommy Rutherford fouled out with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting in 22 minutes for UCI (13-4).
Matt Neufeld made a basket, Leonard's jumper 33 seconds later made it 2-2 and the Anteaters didn't trail again until Garrison Goode's dunk gave UCD a 65-64 lead with 2:27 to play. Leonard hit the first of two foul shot before Elston Jones had a steal, was fouled and hit 1 of 2 free throws to put UC Irvine back in front about a minute later. After an Aggies miss, Leonard made 4 of 4 from the stripe as the Anteaters held on.
TJ Shorts II led UC Davis (4-11) with 21 points and Joe Mooney scored 14.
Goode converted a 3-point play before Shorts and Money made back-to-back layups in a 7-0 run that made it 61-all with 11 seconds left in regulation to force OT.
UC Irvine made 21 of 34, while the Aggies hit just 14 of 25, from the free-throw line.
