UC Irvine Salvages 87-80 Victory Over Pacific

STOCKTON — UC Irvine continued its dominance of University of the Pacific Thursday night, but struggled in beating the Tigers, 87-80, in a Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. game.

It was Irvine’s 16th straight win over Pacific.

The Anteaters (9-6 overall, 4-2 in the PCAA) trailed for much of the game at Spanos Center and led, 83-80, with 31 seconds remaining. Guard Mike Hess made both ends of a one-plus-one situation with 20 seconds left, and Jeff Herdman dropped in a layup with four seconds left to give Irvine the winning margin.

The Anteaters came into the game with a 77.7% free-throw record--third-best in the nation--but they made only 23 of 39 in this game.

Irvine point guard Kevin Floyd, who missed the front end of two one-and-ones in the final four minutes, had a good game on offense otherwise, finishing with 21 points. Irvine center Wayne Engelstad had a game-high 22 points.

Pacific (5-11, 0-6) made 23 straight free throws and finished with 27 of 32 at the line. UOP led by as many as nine points in the first half and had a 70-66 advantage with 7:36 left in the game.