UC Irvine pulls away late to beat Cal Poly 74-67

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) — Collin Welp and Evan Leonard scored 18 points apiece as UC Irvine pulled away late to beat Cal Poly 74-67 on Saturday night.

Brad Greene added 12 points for UC Irvine (12-9, 4-1 Big West Conference), which rebounded from a 63-56 loss at Long Beach State on Thursday that snapped a three-game win streak.

Junior Ballard scored 17 points and Kyle Colvin added 11 for Cal Poly (4-15, 1-4), which shot just 31.3% (21 of 67) from the field but made 16 of 20 free throws (80%).

Malek Harwell’s 3-pointer pulled Cal Poly to 62-61 with four minutes to play. Jeron Artest answered with a 3 to spark a 12-6 closing run for the Anteaters.

Cal Poly hosts Cal State Fullerton on Thursday. UC Irvine travels to UC Davis on Thursday.