UC Irvine pulls away from Rice to cap 3-0 run at Ball Dawgs Classic

HENDERSON, Nev. — Everyone hopes to leave Las Vegas with the kind of momentum the UC Irvine men's basketball team has right now. Justin Hohn had a game-high 18 points and a career-best nine rebounds as UCI used a second-half surge to pull away from Rice for an 83-68 victory on Friday afternoon in the final game of the Ball Dawgs Classic, completing a 3-0 run through the Vegas area event and extending its winning streak to six games. Derin Saran had 16 points on 7-for-12 shooting, Pierre Crockrell II added nine points and Dean Keeler had eight points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots for the Anteaters (6-1). Devin Tillis and Dylan Theorner also had eight points apiece for UCI, which shot 62.1%