UC Irvine men erase big deficit but fall to UC San Diego

IRVINE — The UC Irvine men’s basketball team managed to claw out of a massive hole on Saturday night against visiting UC San Diego, but the Anteaters couldn’t hold on to a late lead in a 71-69 loss at the Bren Events Center. After trailing by as much as 17 points in the first half of the Big West Conference matchup, UCI twice briefly took the lead in the second half, but the Tritons wouldn’t let the hosts build on their momentum. “I want to give [UC] San Diego credit,” UCI coach Russell Turner said. “They came in here and just thoroughly outplayed us in the hustle points and the effort points and the desire plays. They just were quicker to loose balls, quicker to rebounds. They were hungrier...