UC Irvine guard Justin Hohn takes a shot during the first half of their Big West Conference game against UC Riverside on Saturday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) UC Riverside center Joel Armotrading, right, grabs a rebound over UC Irvine center Bent Leuchten during the first half of their Big West Conference game on Saturday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) UC Irvine guard Torian Lee looks for a way to get to the basket during the first half of their Big West Conference game against UC Riverside on Saturday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) UC Riverside guard Niyi Olabode, left, grabs a rebound in front of UC Irvine forward Devin Tillis during the first half of their Big West Conference game on Saturday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) UC Irvine guard Justin Hohn takes a shot during the first half of their Big West Conference game against UC Riverside on Saturday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) UC Riverside guard Isaiah Moses, left, drives as UC Irvine guard Justin Hohn defends during their Big West Conference game on Saturday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) UC Irvine forward Kyle Evans, right, and teammate Ofure Ujadughele reach for a rebound during their Big West Conference game against UC Riverside on Saturday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) UC Irvine center Bent Leuchten, right, keeps UC Riverside guard Barrington Hargress from taking a clean shot during their Big West Conference game on Saturday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) UC Irvine forward Devin Tillis, center, fights his way out from between UC Riverside guard Isaiah Moses, left, and forward Kaleb Smith, right, during their Big West Conference game on Saturday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) UC Irvine guard Justin Hohn does a little celebrating after sinking a shot during their Big West Conference game against UC Riverside on Saturday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) UC Irvine guard Ben Egbo, left, and UC Riverside guard Niyi Olabode try to get control of a loose ball during their Big West Conference game on Saturday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) UC Irvine guard Myles Che, right, drives as UC Riverside guard Isaiah Moses defends during their Big West Conference game on Saturday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) UC Riverside guard Nate Pickens, left, runs up against UC Irvine guard Jurian Dixon during their Big West Conference game on Saturday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) UC Irvine guard Myles Che goes up for a shot during their Big West Conference game against UC Riverside on Saturday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) Show Caption1 of 14UC Irvine guard Justin Hohn takes a shot during the first half of their Big West Conference game against UC Riverside on Saturday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer) Expand IRVINE — Faced with some formidable early-season adversity, the UC Irvine men’s basketball team is showing it’s still the team to beat in the Big West Conference. The Anteaters proved that again on Saturday night against visiting UC Riverside, overcoming another slow start before taking their first lead early in the second half and then storming away for an 81-57 victory at the Bren Events Center. “This was a tough week with three hard games, two on the road to start and then this one at the end of the week,” said UCI coach Russell Turner, whose team won a nonconference game at Cal Baptist on Monday night then outlasted Cal Poly in overtime on Thursday night in San Luis Obispo. “That challenges any team, especially one that’s been through what we’ve been through with the injuries and everything else, so I’m pleased with that.” UCI, which has won or shared seven of the past 11 Big West regular-season titles, outscored the Highlanders 52-22 in the second half while shooting 64% from the floor. “I’m excited for all these guys because there is a belief that shows up when we have second-half performances like that,” Turner said. UCI (13-2 overall, 3-0 Big West) lost starting guard Andre Henry, the reigning Big West Defensive Player of the Year, to a season-ending knee injury early last month. Langston Redfield, a key reserve guard for the Anteaters, went down with a season-ending knee injury the game before. Supported by one of the best backcourts in the conference, UCR (10-6, 3-1) was looking to take advantage. The Highlanders entered the game as the only 3-0 team in the Big West after knocking off Long Beach State on Thursday, but UCI and streaking UC San Diego (13-2, 3-0) now share that distinction. In a matchup of two preseason All-Big West guards, UCI’s Justin Hohn and UCR’s Barrington Hargress each led their teams in scoring, but Hohn had a better supporting cast. Hohn scored 17 points, while Myles Che added 16 points and seven assists and Devin Tillis finished with 14 points and eight rebounds for the Anteaters. Hargress scored 20 points, but was the only player in double figures for the Highlanders. “They’re a championship team. They turned on their physicality,” UCR coach Mike Magpayo said of the Anteaters. “Our whole deal was, ‘We’ve got to stay with it, we’ve got to stay with it and keep coming,’ and I just thought we started taking bad shots and, really, what was disappointing was the defensive rebounding.” The Anteaters took their first lead at 42-41 with 15:21 left in the game on a 3-pointer by Tillis, who had missed his first six shots of the game. Bent Leuchten then hit another 3-pointer in transition to extend the lead to 45-41 with 14:56 to go. UCR starting center Joel Armotrading went to the bench with his third foul in the opening minute of the second half and Kaleb Smith followed after picking up his third with 16:10 remaining. “It got us out of rhythm a little bit because we really did want to play through Kaleb,” Magpayo said. “He had to sit a lot of that first half after he banged two 3s early to give us a lead.” Neither player remained out for long, but UCI continued to extend its lead anyway. Berk Can Akin converted a three-point play to give UCI its first double-digit lead at 55-43 with 10:33 left and cap the Anteaters’ second 9-0 run of the second half. The lead ballooned to 20 when Jurian Dixon made two free throws with 4:32 left. “When teams bring a high level of defense at us … we’re going to have to respond,” Turner said. “It took us a little while to respond, but I thought we did tonight.” Related Articles College Sports | UC Irvine pulls away late to beat California Baptist College Sports | Big West women’s basketball: UC Irvine expects to contend for title College Sports | Big West men’s basketball: Is UC Irvine still the team to beat? Both teams shot under 40% from the field in the first half The Highlanders never trailed in the first half, building an early 12-2 lead behind a four-point play from Smith followed by his catch-and-shoot 3-pointer. The Anteaters came back with a 7-0 run of their own to cut it to 12-9, but that’s as close as they could get in the first half. UCR collected two of its eight first-half offensive rebounds on back-to-back possessions and scored on both to push the lead back to eight, and Hargress made a 3-pointer following another offensive rebound to keep it an eight-point lead with 2:27 left in the half. Che hit four straight free throws to trim the margin back to four, but Isaiah Moses sank a pull-up jumper to make it 35-29 with 58 seconds left and that remained the score at halftime.