Feb. 3, 2011
Fullerton, Calif. -
Isiah Umipig scored 19 points and Orane Chin had a double-double including a decisive 3-point play Thursday night to lead Cal State Fullerton to an 80-74 Big West Conference victory over UC Irvine.
Darren Moore had 22 points and Mike Wilder added 20 for the Anteaters, who played without injured rebounding leader and No. 2 scorer Eric Wise and fell to 10-13, 3-6.
Fullerton (9-14, 5-5) improved to 7-2 at home this season with its fourth consecutive home Big West win and earned a split of the season series with UCI.
Chin grabbed the rebound of a missed Jer'Vaughn Johnson free throw with 33 seconds to play, scored and added a free throw for a 77-72 Fullerton lead. He finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds, the latter figure matching his career high. Four of the five Fullerton starters plus Umipig scored in double figures and Andre Hardy added 9 rebounds.
Fullerton shot 53 percent for the game and 44 percent at the 3-point line with freshman Umipig going 5-for-9 and matching his season's scoring high. Fullerton also hit 18 of 22 free throws (82 percent) but 8 second-half turnovers to only 3 by UCI allowed the Anteaters to fight back from a 10-point halftime deficit. UCI never led and drew even only once on Wilder's 3-pointer at 6:18. But Hardy scored on a putback to spark a 7-0 Fullerton run. UCI got as close as 74-72 on another Wilder trey but Chin cancelled that at the other end.
UCI finished 11-for-32 (.344) from the 3-point line as Fullerton played a zone the entire game. UCI shot 39 percent overall and made 15 of 18 free throws.
"Chin made the play of the game," said CSF Coach Bob Burton. "If he doesn't get that rebound, they have chance to tie or go ahead.
"We caught a tremendous break with Wise out... He's one of the best players in the league. But I know the feeling. We've had some of our best players out.
"We played hard and UCI did, too. We've been able to win at home which is great. Umipig had a huge game. Our turnovers really hurt... They were the kind you can't recover from, leading to fastbreaks and 2-on-1s."
Fullerton used a 20-6 run over 9 minutes of the first half to open its biggest lead of the game at 34-20 with 2:38 to go in the half.
Fullerton hosts UC Riverside on Saturday while UCI visits Cal State Northridge.