Hohn paces UC Irvine to share of Big West title
IRVINE » Justin Hohn was about the only thing that went right for the UC Irvine basketball team while on the offensive end of the floor on Saturday night.
The Anteaters had to beat Cal State Bakersfield to clinch a share of the Big West Conference regular-season title for the first time in three years, but someone needed to lead them across the finish line.
Thanks to Hohn and some stingy team defense, Irvine accomplished its task with a 52-44 win against Bakersfield at the Bren Events Center.
UC Irvine (22-10, 15-5) finished tied with UC Santa Barbara (24-7, 15-5) atop the conference standings.
Hohn shot 4-for-6 from 3-point distance and scored 15 points off the bench, the only player to score in double digits for Irvine, and the Anteaters held Bakersfield to 30.2% shooting from the field, including 0-for-10 from 3-point distance.
“Bakersfield is hard to play, and give them credit, they controlled the tempo of the game, but we guarded them well enough to win,” said Irvine coach Russell Turner, who won his sixth conference title in his 13th season at the school. “I'm excited about that because I knew it wasn't going to be easy.”
Hohn had struggled with his perimeter shooting in recent weeks, going 3-for-17 on 3-pointers in the previous six games, but he made three in a row on three straight possessions to help the Anteaters build on early double-digit lead.
“These guys trust me to take shots like that,” Hohn said. “I've been in a little funk the last couple weeks in conference, so it was nice to see a couple go through and have them all supporting me.”
The Anteaters made eight of their first 10 shots to build a 20-8 lead after 8 1/2 minutes and Hohn made his first three 3-pointers in that stretch to surpass his season scoring average of 6.9 points per game.
“Got right back to the old groove from earlier in the season and just kept shooting,” Hohn said.
After Hohn helped put the Roadrunners (10-21, 6-14) in an early hole, the Irvine defense kept them there.
Despite going nearly 3 1/2 minutes without scoring and producing just nine points over the final 11 1/2 minutes of the first half, the Roadrunners never pulled closer than eight points.
Hohn converted a threepoint play to push the lead to 29-18 with 55 seconds left in the half and Irvine took that lead into intermission.
Hohn finished with 12 first-half points, more than the starting five for Irvine combined (nine).
“Our depth is something we believe in and Justin really was a difference maker tonight,” Turner said.
Irvine's nine-point halftime lead swelled to as much as 13 before Bakersfield put together a surge to make it 34-30 with 12:35 left.
JC Butler, who was honored before as the lone Irvine player who has decided this will be his last season with the Anteaters, sank a 3-pointer to extend the lead back to seven. He then forced a turnover and passed the ball to Hohn, who hit his fourth 3-pointer to push the lead back to double figures.
“We were only up four, I felt like they were on a run and JC did what a senior does, he stepped up big,” Turner said. “He got a steal on the next play that we turned into another 3. Went from four to 10. They were huge plays that he made.”