Dan Arritt – Orange County Register

NCAA baseball: UCLA clinches College World Series spot by shutting out UTSA

Dan Arritt — Sun, 08 Jun 2025 23:24:35 +0000

LOS ANGELES — The turnaround is complete.

After sputtering through its worst season in two decades, the UCLA baseball team completed a 180-degree spin in 2025, advancing to the College World Series for the first time in 12 years with a 7-0 victory over UT-San Antonio on Sunday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

UCLA finished 19-33 last season, including 9-21 in its final season in the Pac-12, but will bring a 47-16 record to Omaha, Nebraska for the eight-team CWS that begins Friday. UCLA will face first-time CWS qualifier Murray State (44-15) on Saturday at 11 a.m. PT in its opener.

“We had a really tough year last year. We really could have had some guys leave, but I think they saw the heart of the program,” UCLA coach John Savage said. “They felt that they could turn the needle and, at the end of the day, that’s what they did. They did it together.”

The Bruins, the No. 15 national seed, won their 11th game in a row on Sunday, sweeping the best-of-three super regional with pinpoint pitching, stellar defense and clutch hits from their most important player to one who started just two previous games this season.

Toussaint Bythewood, a junior outfielder from Encino who mainly served as a seldom-used right-handed pinch-hitter this season, was in the lineup at designated hitter and he delivered a clutch two-out, two-strike single in the fourth inning that broke a scoreless tie.

Roch Cholowsky, UCLA’s starting shortstop and one of 25 semifinalists for the Golden Spikes Award, which annually goes to the best amateur baseball player in the United States, dropped an RBI single into right-center field in the fifth to score UCLA’s second run.

The Bruins tacked on two more runs in the eighth and three in the ninth, more than enough for the Bruins’ pitching staff, which blanked UTSA (47-15) over the final 16 innings of the super regional.

“We got outstanding pitching this weekend,” Savage said. “We had a bunch of naysayers saying that they questioned our pitching. You can’t question that now.”

UTSA’s leadoff batter reached base in four of the first five innings off UCLA starter Landon Stump, but he kept the Roadrunners from crossing the plate.

Savage went to left-hander Chris Grothues (4-1) after Stump hit No. 9 hitter Andrew Stucky to start the fifth, and Grothues got Norris McClure to hit into a double play – the Bruins’ nation-best 63rd of the season – before striking out Mason Lytle looking, pumping his fists at his side as he departed the mound.

Grothues did not allow a hit over 2⅔ innings of relief. Cal Randall relieved him with two outs in the seventh, but catcher Cashell Dugger threw out Jordan Ballin trying to steal to end the inning.

After a delay to replace the home plate umpire for medical reasons, August Souza pitched a 1-2-3 eighth for the second consecutive day, and Easton Hawk did the same in the ninth.

It added up to five innings of no-hit relief on Sunday and nine shutout innings for the bullpen for the weekend.

“They pounded the zone pretty good,” Savage said of the relievers. “It just seemed like we were very competitive. Came back into counts, won a bunch of 3-2 counts. … It was just a 9-on-1 operation.”

UCLA put its leadoff batter on base for the second time in the fourth when Roman Martin singled to right. He was erased on a double-play grounder, but Payton Brennan followed with an opposite-field line drive that left fielder Caden Miller misjudged, allowing the ball to carry over his head for a double.

Bythewood then fought off a two-strike pitch and dumped a soft single into right field, scoring Brennan from second for a 1-0 lead.

“He was ready for that opportunity, came up with a huge hit,” Savage said. “So happy for Touissant and his game today.”

The Bruins put their lead-off batter on base again in the fifth when No. 9 hitter Phoenix Call reached on a bunt up the first base line. He was sacrificed to second and then scored when Cholowsky lined a single into right-center field for a 2-0 lead, one pitch after UTSA coach Pat Hallmark paid a mound visit.

“I ran out and told him not to throw a strike to Roch, and he threw a strike,” Hallmark said.

AJ Salgado started the eighth with an opposite-field double off the glove of McClure at third.

Brennan then hit a line drive off UTSA pitcher Braylon Owens, and the ball caromed into foul territory. UTSA first baseman Lorenzo Morresi tried to flip the ball to Owens covering first, but the ball got away, allowing Salgado to continue home for a 3-0 lead.

Call then delivered a sacrifice fly to center to stretch it to 4-0.

Brennan came through with his third hit of the game in the ninth, lining an opposite-field two-run single to left to make it 6-0, and Bythewood followed with an RBI groundout for a 7-0 lead.

“They played clean baseball, and they’ve got a lot of talent,” Hallmark said. “They deserved to win.”

NCAA baseball: UCLA rallies past UTSA in super regional opener

Dan Arritt — Sun, 08 Jun 2025 02:20:33 +0000

LOS ANGELES — The UCLA baseball team had a few reasons to be dispirited after the first two innings of its super regional against visiting UT-San Antonio on Saturday afternoon.

The Bruins surrendered a home run on the second pitch of the game, gave up another run on a trick play more often seen at the Little League level and failed to capitalize on their own prime scoring opportunity in the second inning.

But there were still seven innings to go, plenty of time for UCLA right-hander Michael Barnett and the offense to right the ship in the 5-2 victory at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

The Bruins own a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three matchup heading to Game 2 on Sunday at noon. A win will advance UCLA to the eight-team College World Series for the first time since 2013.

“A nine-inning game is a long game,” said UCLA coach John Savage, who earned his 50th postseason victory at the school. “I always tell them, there’s plenty of opportunities that are still on the table.”

Barnett (12-1) bounced back from the unwelcome start to allow two runs and six hits over six innings. The junior right-hander struck out one and didn’t walk a batter.

“A little adversity early on doesn’t matter,” Barnett said. “This team is built off adversity, and myself being able to recover from that is really special.”

Roman Martin had two hits and drove in three runs for No. 15 seed UCLA (46-16), which has won 10 in a row.

The Bruins didn’t capitalize after putting runners on second and third with no outs in the second off UTSA right-hander Zach Royse, but they came through in the third.

Back-to-back one-out singles by Dean West and Roch Cholowsky put runners on the corners. Mulivai Levu then lined a two-strike pitch into the right-field corner for an RBI double that cut the lead to 2-1.

Levu came in ranked third in the nation and tops in the Big Ten with 84 RBIs.

Martin then tied the score 2-2 when he drove in Cholowsky with a ground out to third.

The Bruins moved ahead 3-2 in the fourth after loading the bases with one out on singles by Payton Brennan, Cashel Dugger and No. 9 hitter Phoenix Call, followed by a sacrifice fly from West.

UCLA missed opportunities to expand its lead in the fifth and sixth innings, but put runners on the corners with one out in the eighth before Martin delivered a two-out two-run triple into the right-center field gap to make it 5-2.

“Every game is going to be a dogfight,” Savage said.

Barnett, who came in ranked third in the nation in wins and No. 1 in the Big Ten, did not have his first clean inning until the fifth.

Jack O’Connor relieved Barnett to start the seventh and tossed a 1-2-3 inning. August Souza retired all three batters he faced in the eighth, and Easton Hawk did the same in the ninth.

The Bruins did not walk a batter or commit an error.

“They didn’t give us anything,” UTSA coach Pat Hallmark said.

UTSA (47-14) came in with confidence after upsetting second-seeded Texas to win its regional last weekend.

Barnett had allowed just seven home runs in 75⅓ innings coming into the game, but Mason Lytle lined the second pitch over the fence in left to give UTSA a 1-0 lead and get his side of the stadium roaring in approval.

“They jumped on us, no question about it,” Savage said. “They had a lot of momentum and, to Michael’s credit, he calmed that down a little bit.”

UCLA appeared to catch a break when UTSA catcher Andrew Stucky overran second base on a single to right by Ty Hodge that would have loaded the bases with one out in the second inning.

Stucky got tagged out in a rundown for the second out, but the Roadrunners stole a run during the ensuing at-bat when Caden Miller broke for home as Dugger was throwing the ball back to Barnett, and he beat Barnett’s return throw with a head-first slide for a 2-0 lead.

“The steal of home, I think it was a lesson learned,” Savage said. “Throwing the ball from his knees, not throwing firm enough. They picked up on that.”

AVP Huntington Beach Open: Miles Partain, Andy Benesh win men’s title

Dan Arritt — Mon, 12 May 2025 02:37:47 +0000

Tayrn Brasher, left, embraces volleyball partner, Kristen Nuss, after they win the AVP Huntington Beach Open on Sunday, May 11, 2025. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Tayrn Brasher, left, embraces volleyball partner, Kristen Nuss, after they win the AVP Huntington Beach Open on Sunday, May 11, 2025. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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HUNTINGTON BEACH — Initially formed out of desperation, the team of Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft continues to show they have more in common than just a love for beach volleyball.

The former national champions during different time periods at USC displayed their growing chemistry over the weekend at the Huntington Beach Open, reaching the championship match of the women’s bracket on Sunday before losing in three sets to top-seeded Kristen Nuss and Taryn Brasher.

“Our goal this weekend was to have a lot of fun and be physical and aggressive, and I feel we kept that consistent all tournament through,” said Kraft, who was seeded third with Cannon. “We felt like that is how we wanted to play, and, although the outcome wasn’t what we wanted, we were happy with finding our identity.”

Cannon is a New York native who became a two-time NCAA beach volleyball champion while at USC from 2016-19, and Kraft came from Torrey Pines High before winning four straight national titles with the Trojans from 2021-24.

They teamed up on the AVP Tour in September of 2023 after Kraft’s partner decided to transition to indoor volleyball, and Cannon’s partner retired. Qualifying for the 2024 Olympics was already well underway, leaving them no opportunity to make up ground.

So, they got busy learning about each other and discovered they not only went to USC, but were both accounting majors and had a twin sibling.

They also played the same position on the sand, left-side blocker, not ideal for beach volleyball teammates, but Kraft made a flawless switch to right-side defender.

“One of the best in the world at it,” Cannon said. “Pretty impressive.”

Cannon and Kraft knocked off the second-seeded Canadian pair of Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes in three sets in a semifinal on Sunday.

Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes won silver at the 2024 Olympics, where the U.S. went without a medal for the first time in the history of the event.

Cannon and Kraft then pushed Nuss and Brasher to three sets in the final. Nuss and Brasher are former LSU teammates who represented the U.S. at the 2024 Olympics.

The results from the weekend have Cannon and Kraft excited about a potential run at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

“It’s been so fun getting to play with Meg,” Cannon said. “Yeah, maybe our other partnerships didn’t work out under the best circumstances, but it all worked out for a reason because I’ve never had more fun playing with anyone. So, I’m just really excited to keep growing and see how good we can get.”

The top-seeded men’s team of Miles Partain and Andy Benesh beat fellow 2024 Olympians Chase Budinger and Miles Evans in the championship match, 21-14, 21-14.

Partain and Benesh did not drop a set in their four matches at the tournament and hardly trailed.

“We’ve been training more consistently than any year, so that definitely has something to do with it,” said Partain, whose family home burned down in the Palisades fire in January.

Evans said Partain and Benesh didn’t show any hesitation on offense, a sign of confidence.

“They definitely don’t give you a lot of mistakes,” Evans said. “They don’t give you free points, and they seem pretty level-headed throughout the whole match. When we practice against them, it almost looks like they’re bored. They look like they’re just super, super even-keeled all the time, and I think that helps them a lot.”

Benesh, a Palos Verdes native, used his 6-foot-8 frame to produce six blocks in the first set of the championship match, several on the 6-7 Budinger, who played seven seasons in the NBA.

Even more impressive, Benesh has four service aces.

“Andy’s serve was really good,” Partain said. “That got us several points per set.”

After winning the 16-team, single-elimination event in Huntington Beach, Partain and Benesh next head to Florida in two weeks for the 24-team Palm Beach Open.

“We know every time we come out here, we’ve got to play our A-game,” Benesh said. “We’re just trying to compete as hard as we can when we step on the court.”

AVP Huntington Beach Open: Hagen Smith, Logan Webber reach semifinals

Dan Arritt — Sun, 11 May 2025 01:36:28 +0000

Miles Partain powers through Day 1 of the AVP’s Huntington Beach Open on Saturday, May 10, 2025 with partner Andy Benesh. The top-seeded Partain and Benesh won twice to advance to Sunday’s semifinals. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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HUNTINGTON BEACH — Born into beach volleyball royalty, Hagen Smith might finally be ready to take the throne.

Smith and partner Logan Webber are having one of their best weekends since teaming up three years ago, reaching the semifinals of the AVP Tour’s Huntington Beach Open with a pair of hard-fought three-set victories on Saturday.

The 12th-seeded pair will take on top-seeded Miles Partain and Andy Benesh in the first semifinal on Sunday at 10 a.m.

Smith is the son of Sinjin Smith, widely regarded as one of the best players in the history of beach volleyball. Smith was the first to win 100 events before finishing his career with 139 tournament titles.

Hagen Smith, who turned 30 last month, has been competing on the AVP Tour since 2017, but has yet to reach a final of a major event.

“We want to win this,” Smith said. “We’re trying to establish ourselves as one of the dogs.”

Smith showed the type of intensity and emotion that was a trademark of his father’s style.

At one point during the quarterfinal match, Smith ripped off his tank top following a successful spike, drawing a roar from the crowd.

“I tested it and I heard the little rip and I just went for it,” Smith said. “You’ve got to know whether it’s the right time to rip a jersey or not because sometimes it just doesn’t go and then you look like an idiot.”

Watching from beyond one of the end lines in the shadow of the pier was Sinjin.

“I wasn’t strong enough to do that,” Sinjin said of the shirt tear. “He’s good. He knows how to play to the crowd, which is important, I think, for all sports. You want the people to connect with the athletes. It makes them want to come out and watch and cheer.”

Hagen Smith and Webber took on the fifth-seeded pair of Tim Bomgren and Paul Lotman in the first round and lost the first set, 20-22, before winning the next two, 21-18, 15-11.

The duo then faced the 13th-seeded Brazilian pair of Alison and Alvaro Filho, who had knocked off fourth-seeded Chaim Schalk and James Shaw in the first round, and Smith and Webber advanced with a 22-20, 20-22, 15-13 win.

“It’s really hard to watch because it’s nerve-wracking for me. I know what he’s capable of,” said Sinjin, who turned 68 on Wednesday. “When he does well, it’s not much better. It makes you want to cry as a parent. You feel so good for him.”

Hagen Smith grew up in the Pacific Palisades and was a two-year letterman as a setter and outside hitter for the boys’ volleyball team at Loyola High.

He then followed in his father’s footsteps and went on to play four seasons of indoor volleyball at UCLA, ending his career fourth in program history in assists and sixth in digs.

Smith went through a series of partners during his early years on the AVP Tour before settling on Webber, a Michigan native who stands 6-foot-9.

“Other than the two Olympic teams, we’re the longest-running men’s partnership right now,” Webber said. “We’re always finding new stuff to work on, so it’s fun. We’re very comfortable with each other.”

Sinjin Smith struggled early in his career until teaming with Karch Kiraly, and then another future Hall of Famer, Randy Stoklos.

“I think he and Logan are a good team,” Sinjin said. “You have to play with the right person that complements your style of play.”

Second-seeded Chase Budinger and Miles Evans, the other 2024 Olympic team in the field along with Partain and Benesh, will face third-seeded Taylor Crabb and Billy Allen in the other semifinal at 11 a.m.

The top four seeded teams in the women’s draw also reached the semifinals.

Top-seeded Kristen Nuss and Taryn Brasher will face fourth-seeded Kelly Cheng and Molly Shaw in the first women’s semifinal at noon, and second-seeded Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft will take on third-seeded Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes in the second semifinal at 1 p.m.

Cheng is a former El Dorado High and USC star who teamed with Sara Hughes at the 2024 Olympics, but Hughes is sidelined with a calf injury.

Cannon starred for the USC women’s beach volleyball team from 2016-19, and Kraft did so from 2021-24.

SUNDAY’S SCHEDULE

Men’s semifinals

No. 1 seed Andy Benesh/Miles Partain vs. No. 12 Hagen Smith/Logan Webber, 10 a.m.

No. 2 Chase Budinger/Miles Evans vs. No. 3 Billy Allen/Taylor Crabb, 11 a.m.

Women’s semifinals

No. 1 Taryn Brasher/Kristen Nuss vs. No. 4 Kelly Cheng/Molly Shaw, noon

No. 2 Melissa Humana-Paredes/Brandie Wilkerson vs. No. 3 Teresa Cannon/Megan Kraft, 1 p.m.

Finals

Men, 2 p.m.

Women, 3 p.m.

AVP Huntington Beach Open: Miles Partain finds solace on the sand

Dan Arritt — Fri, 09 May 2025 15:00:05 +0000

Regardless of where he’s living or playing, the sand will always feel like home to Miles Partain.

He made a name for himself as the youngest player ever to qualify for an AVP Tour main draw at age 15, further turned heads in beach volleyball circles when he became the second-youngest to ever win an AVP event at age 20, and solidified himself as one of the best up-and-coming players in the world last summer when he became the youngest to ever compete for the U.S. men’s Olympic beach volleyball team at 22.

Then he turned 23 in December and life suddenly became more complicated and unpredictable.

His family home, neighborhood and most of his community burned down in the Palisades Fire in January. Partain then failed to regain his eligibility with the UCLA men’s indoor volleyball team this spring, partly because of the money he had earned as a pro beach player.

Now living in Hermosa Beach with his family, Partain has returned to the beach full time, where he and Olympic partner Andy Benesh are the top-seeded men’s team at the Huntington Beach Open this weekend.

Getting back on the sand has been therapeutic, he said.

“Indoor was less like that,” he said. “It was more of a grind, but I still enjoyed the challenge.”

Getting back home to Pacific Palisades will take much longer, but the Partains plan to rebuild.

As he evacuated on Jan. 7, Partain never expected to return to a neighborhood of smoldering ash.

After all, the fire was still 2 miles away.

“We were so far from the front lines,” Partain said. “All around us landlocked by homes, just streets, easy street access for fire fighters, so we really didn’t expect it. … So, it was really surprising the next morning when we came in and saw everything.”

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Most of his longtime neighborhood friends lost their homes too, and row after row of businesses he regularly patronized were burned to the ground.

“Just everything around us,” he said of the devastation.

Partain lost every medal he won as a young gun in the California Beach Volleyball Association, every trophy he took home as a member of the Palisades High indoor volleyball team, and all the jerseys he had worn at international competitions around the world.

His letterman’s jacket from Pali High, hard drives with videos of past volleyball matches, and family photo albums that had yet to be digitized, all destroyed with the rest of his family’s possessions.

Partain managed to save some memorabilia from his experience at the Olympics, randomly tossing a few items into an empty fireproof safe just before evacuating.

“It’s interesting, I think a little bit, but far, far less important than, I’m sure, what’s in a ton of other homes,” he said of his personal losses.

During that time, Partain was also maneuvering to reclaim his spot on the UCLA indoor team.

He was the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Year as a sophomore setter for the Bruins in 2022, but quit 10 matches into his junior season to focus on an Olympic qualifying berth in beach volleyball.

After accomplishing that goal and then losing in the quarterfinals in Paris, Partain wasn’t ready to give up the indoor game.

With a year of college eligibility still remaining, he was motivated by the opportunity to be part of the first NCAA team to win three straight national titles since the early 1980s, even if it meant moving from setter to libero.

Partain had already secured an undergraduate degree in Applied Math in three years at UCLA when he rejoined the Bruins last winter, taking masters courses, practicing with the team and watching a handful of early-season matches from the bench.

The roadblocks for a return to play proved too high and wide, however.

Partain ultimately decided to leave the team, move in with his family and begin five-day-a-week training for the upcoming AVP season.

Instead of playing for the Bruins this week at the NCAA Championships in Columbus, Ohio, Partain is preparing to compete in Huntington Beach, where he expects stiff competition.

Partain and Benesh, as well as two other top men’s and women’s teams, skipped the Huntington Beach Open last year so they could compete in an Olympic qualifying match in Portugal.

“Single elimination, it will be interesting,” Partain said of this weekend’s smaller-field tournament. “I’m sure there will be upsets somewhere for the girls and guys, and there’s no redemption after that.”

AVP HUNTINGTON BEACH OPEN

What: Men and women, 16-team main draws, single-elimination tournament

When: Friday (qualifying), 8 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday (main draw), 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday (semifinals and finals), 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Where: Huntington Beach Pier

No. 9 UC Irvine beats Cal State Fullerton at Angel Stadium

Dan Arritt — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 06:02:39 +0000

ANAHEIM — The UC Irvine baseball team took a breather from its Big West Conference schedule on Tuesday night, a rare chance to perform under the lights at Angel Stadium against a friendly rival, and with an opportunity to cap the month on a positive note.

A day after ascending to No. 9 in the latest Baseball America Top 25 poll, their highest ranking since 2014, the Anteaters checked all the boxes in a 5-1 victory against Cal State Fullerton, ending the month of April with eight consecutive wins for the second season in a row.

“It’s easy to be fired up. Angel Stadium, Cal State Fullerton,” UCI coach Ben Orloff said. “We were fired up to play. We need to play better, but it is pretty cool to play here at Angel Stadium, where a lot of our kids have never played on a big league field before.”

UCI (33-9 overall) was coming off a three-game sweep against second-place Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo last weekend, giving the Anteaters a four-game cushion over the Mustangs for first place in the Big West with three weeks left in conference play.

Nine more conference games remain for UCI, including a three-game series against Fullerton to finish the regular season on May 15-17.

“That’s when we want to be playing our best ball in May and June, so on the right direction,” UCI first baseman Anthony Martinez said after going 3 for 4 with a walk and two runs scored against the Titans.

The Anteaters were ranked 24th in Baseball America’s preseason poll after finishing 20th last season.

They’ve steadily moved up to their highest ranking in Orloff’s seven seasons at the helm, but that number has little meaning to him.

“It’s good for propaganda, it’s good for the families, it’s good for recruiting, but the reality is, it means nothing,” he said. “There’s so much left to go. The goal isn’t to be somewhere on April 25. … Even last weekend at Cal Poly, it wasn’t about playing for first place or second place. We’re trying to get better.”

Martinez led off the second inning with a sharp single to center after Fullerton catcher Max Ortega could not glove a high foul against the screen behind home plate.

Rowan Felsch dropped a one-out single into right-center and Will Bermudez then pulled an RBI double off the base of the wall in left for a 1-0 lead.

The Anteaters loaded the bases with still just one out in the inning before Frankie Carney rolled a squibber up the third-base line. Carter Johnstone touched his bag for the second out and threw home for the tag on James Castagnola to complete the inning-ending double play.

Fullerton reliever Chad Gurnea struck out the first two batters to start the third before issuing back-to-back walks to Chase Call and Martinez.

Castagnola then grounded a 2-and-2 pitch through the left side to score Call from second for a 2-0 lead.

Gurnea then walked two more batters to force in a run and make it 3-0.

The Titans took advantage of two successful bunts to load the bases with no outs in the third and cut it to 3-1 on a sacrifice fly by Andrew Kirchner, but couldn’t draw any closer in the inning.

Nobody scored again until the eighth, when the Anteaters loaded the bases with one on a hit batter and two walks. Colin Yeaman then grounded a single off the glove of Johnstone and into left field to score two runs and extend the lead to 5-1.

The Anteaters closed the game with six shutout innings of relief, capped by Ricky Ojeda striking out the side in the ninth.

“The jitters were going,” Martinez said. “Obviously we can play better than we did today, but great to come out with a win.”

The Big West Tournament is scheduled for May 21-25 at Cal State Fullerton, followed by the NCAA Regionals the following weekend. Orloff believes the Anteaters have the right makeup to make a deep run this postseason.

“It starts with pitching and defense for us,” he said. “The offense gets the attention, but we win because of pitching and defense, and if we keep pitching at the level we’re pitching it, and playing good defense, I think we’ll be a team that has a chance to, hopefully, play beyond Memorial Day.”

The Titans (23-21) sit one game back of Cal Poly in third place after sweeping a three-game series at UC Davis last weekend.

Fullerton lost seven of its first eight games to start the season, and then dropped its first five conference games before an eight-game winning streak righted the ship.

Bent Leuchten fulfills his potential, leads UC Irvine into NIT semifinals

Dan Arritt — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 22:49:18 +0000

UC Irvine center Bent Leuchten finds an opening to put up a shot during a Big West Conference game against UC Santa Barbara earlier this season at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

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The first time UC Irvine coach Russell Turner saw Bent Leuchten touch a basketball, it was on a video sent from overseas.

Leuchten’s handlers back in Bavaria, Germany knew of Turner’s long history of developing post players and they thought the Anteaters would be the perfect fit for their growing prodigy.

Turner saw the outline of a potential star player, but he knew Leuchten still had a long way to go, both physically and mentally, if he wanted to contribute to the Anteaters.

Fast forward five years and Leuchten has not only fulfilled most of his athletic potential, but the 7-foot-1 center has become one of the program’s best ambassadors in Turner’s 15 years at the school.

“In terms of the way he carries himself everyday and represents us in the classroom, on campus, walking around as a big physical representative of who we are, he’s as good as any guy we’ve had,” Turner said.

Leuchten made the biggest basket of his four-year UCI career with 31 seconds left in overtime in their NIT quarterfinal last Wednesday night against visiting Alabama-Birmingham.

The short jumper in the key off a pick-and-roll broke the final tie in the 81-77 victory and advanced the top-seeded Anteaters (31-6) to the NIT Final Four, which begins Tuesday at 4 p.m. PT against second-seeded North Texas (27-8) at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis (ESPN).

“I cannot remember one that has been bigger than that one,” Leuchten said of his overtime basket.

Earlier in his UCI career, Leuchten might not have been on the court during that crucial part of the game.

After averaging seven minutes per game as a freshman three years ago, Leuchten was a regular starter the past two seasons, but didn’t impress enough to even make honorable mention on the postseason all-conference teams.

After dipping his toe into the transfer portal last spring, Leuchten decided to stay at UCI after he was promised more playing time.

He then dedicated himself to getting into the best shape possible for his final season with the Anteaters, remained healthy all season and improved his statistics across the board while earning first-team All-Big West Conference honors.

Playing 10 more minutes per game than last season, Leuchten’s scoring average went from 9.0 to 15.4 ppg, his rebounding from 4.6 to 9.0 rpg and even his free throw and 3-point shooting percentages improved from previous seasons.

“I’m in better shape, I’ve worked harder, and I put myself in a better position this year than I have in past years,” Leuchten said.

Turner, who stands 6-7, is known for getting the most out of his tallest players.

In his second season with the Anteaters, Turner coached 6-9 forward Adam Folker, who went on to win the Big West’s Hustle Award.

Will Davis II was the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award the following season, and 7-6 center Mamadou Ndiaye won it twice (2014 and 2016).

Jonathan Galloway was also a three-time Defensive Player of the Year winner in the Big West from 2017-19, and Brad Greene won the same award in 2021.

“Some of what has made our program such a good one for big guys is we have a lot of big guys, and so they get a chance to compete with one another every day in practice, and in the weight room and on the track,” Turner said. “I’m also one who continually asks for more from the big guys. Having been a big man myself, I sometimes see the game from that perspective, and so I’m demanding, and that’s not easy on them.”

Leuchten shared playing time with 6-9 forward Dean Keeler the past two seasons and brothers Carter and Hayden Welling joined the big-man rotation last season as well.

Keeler finished his eligibility last season and the Welling brothers transferred to Utah Valley, leaving just Leuchten and Colorado State transfer Kyle Evans as the only players taller than 6-6 on this season’s roster.

“When I have three really good ones to choose from, it was easy to motivate all of them when they didn’t progress as fast as I want by playing somebody else,” Turner said. “That’s some of what happened to Bent.”

Leuchten was recruited by a number of schools while in the portal for about a month last spring, including Missouri, Xavier, VCU and Oregon State, but ultimately he decided it was best to finish his career with the Anteaters.

“It was mainly the people we had here, the coaches,” Leuchten said of deciding to stay. “Just knowing that I could trust them that I would get a bigger chance here, and that they would keep their word on what they were promising me, which you can never be sure how that is at a different place.”

Leuchten changed his offseason routine by improving his nutrition and adding a personal training session every morning before working out with the team in the afternoon.

After dealing with knee injuries each of the past two seasons, better conditioning seems to have generated better health for Leuchten.

He averaged 15.3 points and 8.8 rebounds through the first month of the season to help the Anteaters start 9-0.

He then averaged 15.8 points and 9.3 rebounds during conference play, helping UCI to a second-place finish behind UC San Diego.

“When he got here, I don’t think he saw himself as the type of defender that he is now. As the type of rebounder that he is now. As the type of physical and intimidating presence as he is now,” Turner said. “It’s not his nature to be intimidating and physical. He’s learned how to be more of those things to fit his overall body type, and fit the style that we play.”

He looked in complete control during overtime against UAB, scoring seven of his team’s 12 points. He finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds for his eighth double-double in the past 10 games.

“The double-double stat is especially reflective more of his minutes than anything,” Turner said. “That’s to his credit. He’s changed his body, he’s made himself physically better and tougher mentally and physically, so I’m really happy for his continued development, which I think is going to continue after this year, too. I think he has a long basketball career in front of him, and I think he’s going to keep getting better.”

UC IRVINE (31-6) VS. NORTH TEXAS (27-8)

What: NIT semifinal

When: Tuesday, 4 p.m. PT

Where: Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis

TV: ESPN

UC Irvine pulls away from Northern Colorado to win NIT opener

Dan Arritt — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 05:25:18 +0000

UC Irvine center Bent Leuchten, left, passes a loose ball while sitting on the court during the first half of their NIT first-round game against Northern Colorado on Wednesday night, March 19, 2025, at UCI’s Bren Events Center. (Photo by Michael Goulding, Contributing Photographer)

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IRVINE — It seemed to take a while for the UC Irvine men’s basketball team to play like it wanted to be in the NIT.

Or maybe the Anteaters were still trying to get over their disappointing loss in the Big West Tournament championship game last weekend.

Either way, top-seeded UCI finally switched gears in the second half on Wednesday night against Northern Colorado and pulled out an 82-72 win in the first-round game at the Bren Events Center.

UCI (29-6) will host Jacksonville State (23-12) in a second-round game on Sunday at 6 p.m.

UCI was coming off a 75-61 loss to UC San Diego in the Big West Tournament title game on Saturday night in Henderson, Nevada, and getting over those emotions was a challenge. The Anteaters trailed by nine points early in the second half against Northern Colorado (25-10) before making their push.

“There’s no denying the magnitude of the game we lost on Saturday,” UCI coach Russell Turner said. “It’s hard to process and accept and get beyond. It’s hard for me at 54. It’s really hard for these guys, who only get so many cracks at it.”

Devin Tillis helped the Anteaters early, when few of his teammates looked in rhythm, scoring 15 of his 24 points in the first half. Bent Leuchten rebounded from a slow start to finish with 17 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots and Justin Hohn contributed 15 points and five assists for UCI.

“The character that we have as a group, as individuals, showed up in the second half with the performances we got,” Turner said. “The unselfishness we showed, the defensive level that we played with, to beat a really good (Northern) Colorado team.”

Northern Colorado came in with the best field-goal percentage in the nation at 51.1%, and UCI came in with the 10th-best field-goal percentage defense (39.6%), but it was the Anteaters who won the battle, holding the Bears to 40.3%.

“I was excited for this game from the beginning,” said Leuchten, who shot 8 for 14 from the field. “That was not the issue. It was hard getting over the last game.”

The Bears took their biggest lead of the night at 51-42 with 15:50 left, but the Anteaters began chipping away.

Torian Lee hit a 3-pointer from the corner and Jurian Dixon hit one from the opposite corner to cut the margin to 51-48. Tillis then passed up a 3-point attempt and scored with a runner to cap an 8-0 run and make it a one-point game.

The Anteaters finally tied it 60-all on an inside basket by Leuchten, and then took their first lead since about 7½ minutes remained in the first half on another inside basket by Leuchten, making it 62-60. Two free throws by Dixon capped the 8-0 run and extended the lead to 64-60.

Leuchten missed inside on four straight trips down the floor, allowing the Bears to tie the score again at 64-all, but Myles Che hit a step-back 3-pointer with 4:52 left to spark a 7-0 run that gave UCI a 71-64 lead with 3:03 left.

UCI, the second best free-throw shooting team in the nation at 80.6%, made all six free throws in the final 53 seconds to close out the win.

“We needed to play a very good second half to have a chance to win that game,” Turner said. “We pulled away from them at the end because these guys have been in that position many times this year.”

The Bears missed their first seven field-goal attempts, including back-to-back blocks by Leuchten on Isaiah Hawthorne, leading to a 3-pointer by Tillis on the other end for an 8-2 lead 3:22 into the game.

Tillis became the third UCI player to surpass 1,000 career points at the school this season when he scored on a jump hook in the key for a 10-4 lead. The Anteaters then made their third 3-pointer on their sixth attempt to open their biggest lead of the first half at 13-6 with 14:07 left.

Marcell McCreary checked in for Northern Colorado and produced back-to-back baskets before Brock Wisne scored against Leuchten inside to cap a 7-0 run and give the Bears their first lead of the game at 15-14 with 11:21 left.

Wisne went to the bench with his second foul 16 seconds later and both teams traded leads for the next seven minutes until Northern Colorado went on another 7-0 run to move ahead 34-27.

The Bears took their biggest lead of the first half at 39-31 on a 3-pointer by Jaron Rillie with 1:02 left, but Tillis came back with two 3-pointers in the final 50 seconds to trim the deficit to 41-37 at the half.

Northern Colorado bounced back to shoot 50% from the floor in the first half, getting 19 points from its bench compared to eight points for UCI’s reserves.

Wisne scored 16 points, Langston Reynolds had 15 and Rillie finished with 14 points for Northern Colorado.

Reynolds, a 6-foot-4 guard for Northern Colorado who came in shooting 60.3%, 14th best in the nation, shot 5 for 14 from the floor.

In Tuesday’s first-round results …

Santa Clara 101, UC Riverside 62: Tyeree Bryan had 17 points and five 3-pointers in Santa Clara’s lopsided victory on Tuesday night at Santa Clara. Jake Ensminger added four 3-pointers to help Santa Clara go 16 for 27 (59%) from behind the arc.

Bryan also added seven rebounds and three steals for the Broncos (21-12). Elijah Mahi scored 15 points and five assists, and Christoph Tilly added 14 points.

Nate Pickens led the way for UCR (21-13) with 15 points and four assists.

Santa Clara led 44-33 at halftime, with Bryan racking up 11 points. Santa Clara pulled away with a 15-3 run in the second half to lead by 26 points. Carlos Stewart led the way with a team-high eight second-half points.

Stanford 87, CSUN 70: Maxime Raynaud had 22 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots to lead host Stanford to a decisive win. Oziyah Sellers had 20 points (3 for 7 from 3-point range) for the Cardinal (21-13) and Benny Gealer added 13 points.

Keonte Jones finished with 18 points for the Matadors (22-11), who got 17 points from Scotty Washington. Grady Lewis had 12 points and seven rebounds.

Stanford led 46-29 at halftime.

UC Irvine gets a No. 1 seed in NIT amid ‘difficult reality’ of mid-major plight

Dan Arritt — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 03:31:56 +0000

The UC Irvine men’s basketball team is headed to the NIT for the third straight season, but it isn’t the destination of choice.

After failing to win the Big West Tournament for a fifth consecutive season, the Anteaters accepted the consolation prize on Sunday and were named one of the four No. 1 seeds in the 32-team tournament.

UCI will host Northern Colorado in a first-round game on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Bren Events Center.

Cal State Northridge and UC Riverside were also selected to the NIT field and will begin play on Tuesday.

CSUN landed in the San Francisco Region and will travel to face second-seeded Stanford. UCR is on the same side of the bracket as UCI and will visit second-seeded Santa Clara.

The Anteaters had their eyes on qualifying for the 68-team NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019, but they needed to beat top-seeded UC San Diego in the championship game of the conference tournament on Saturday night in Henderson, Nevada and they came up short, 75-61.

“There will be postseason play for us, but it’s undeniable the devastating feeling of falling short of the goal of playing in March Madness,” UCI coach Russell Turner said. “It’s hard to describe that, in a league like ours and a situation like ours, where we knew if we’d win we’d reach the mountain top, and if we did not win (Saturday) night, like we didn’t, we would feel like we failed. It’s hard.”

UCI compiled a 28-6 record and went 10-2 against the best nonconference schedule Turner could patch together, but he knew all along it wouldn’t be strong enough to impress the NCAA selection committee if the Anteaters didn’t win the tournament title and earn the Big West’s automatic bid.

Every game in Division I falls into one of four quadrants based on each team’s NET rankings and the game location, and the selection committee relies on the system to evaluate the quality of each team’s wins and losses.

UCI played in just two Quad 1 games all season, both against UCSD, and split those games.

North Carolina, on the other hand, finished 1-12 in Quad 1 games and Xavier went 1-9, but both were awarded at-large bids.

“That’s a difficult reality that we face because we can’t get the type of games that they say they’re going to reward,” Turner said. “The system is not set up as it is now for mid-majors like us to be able to get an at-large bid without exceptional circumstances.”

The Anteaters led the nation with 14 road victories and won three other games against Kennesaw State, Kent State and Towson on a neutral court at the Western Slam in Alberta, Canada over Thanksgiving weekend.

Kent State and Towson each have 22 wins and Kennesaw State has 19.

“We played a schedule that was as difficult as we could find,” Turner said. “We could not get any more better games. We have to wait until it’s 2 a.m. at the bar to get anybody to agree to play with us.”

UCI’s two nonconference losses came on the road against Oregon State and Duquesne.

Oregon State was a Quad 2 game and Duquesne was a Quad 3.

The Anteaters played two ranked teams in each of the previous two seasons, beating No. 21 Oregon two seasons ago in Eugene and No. 10 USC at the Galen Center last season, and losing one-possession games to San Diego State when the Aztecs were ranked 24th in 2022 and 25th in 2023, respectively, but UCI didn’t have a ranked team on this season’s nonconference schedule.

“The road games that we agreed to, where we get paid, we didn’t win enough of them,” Turner said. “Those are nearly impossible to win. They’re nearly impossible for us to schedule because we won some of them. It’s a tough dilemma that we face, but it’s not one that we cry about. It’s one that we embrace. We needed to win (Saturday) night, and that’s one of the reasons it hurts so deeply.”

The game was close until the final four minutes, when the Tritons outscored UCI 17-7 to earn an NCAA berth in their first year of eligibility.

Turner said it would have been an interesting situation had the Anteaters won the game and earned the conference’s lone automatic berth. The Tritons, who went 2-1 in Quad 1 games, were ranked second in last week’s College Insider.com’s Mid-Major Top 25 and UCI was ranked sixth. UCI is the only team in the top nine of that poll that is not in the NCAA field.

“I imagine they would have found a way to exclude (UCSD), which is unfortunate,” Turner said.

Turner didn’t discount the possibility that the Tritons played with more calm because they anticipated getting into the NCAA Tournament whether they won or lost on Saturday.

“Maybe it freed them up of a little pressure. I don’t know,” Turner said. “I thought my guys responded incredibly well to the pressure (Saturday) night. I thought we just wore out.”

UC San Diego tops UC Irvine for Big West Tournament title, 1st NCAA tourney trip

Dan Arritt — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 03:57:20 +0000

UC San Diego’s Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, left, collides with UC Irvine’s Justin Hohn during the Big West Tournament title game on Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Henderson, Nevada. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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The new kid on the block played like a savvy veteran down the stretch of the Big West Tournament championship game on Saturday night.

UC San Diego, eligible for the eight-team conference tournament for the first time since moving up from Division II four years ago, outlasted UC Irvine, 75-61, at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nevada.

“Both teams were ready to play tonight, it was a competitive game and they were able to pull away from us in the second half,” UCI coach Russell Turner said. “Credit to them for that.”

With their 15th consecutive victory, the top-seeded Tritons (30-4) earned an automatic bid into the 68-team NCAA Tournament, while the second-seeded Anteaters (28-6) can hold on to the slim hopes that their season-long resume is impressive enough to earn an at-large berth.

The field will be revealed during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on Sunday at 3 p.m. PT (CBS, Ch. 2).

The UCSD women’s team also won a Big West Tournament title in its first year of eligibility earlier Saturday.

UCI, seeking its first tournament championship since 2019, was overwhelmed in the second half by UCSD, which outscored the Anteaters 44-28 in the final 20 minutes.

Hayden Gray, who played two seasons at Azusa Pacific before transferring to UCSD and earning Big West Defensive Player of Year honors this season, shot 6 for 7 from 3-point range and scored a season-high 22 points, doubling his season average (10.9 ppg).

Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, the Big West Player of the Year in the regular season, finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

Justin Hohn scored 18 points to lead UCI. Devin Tillis contributed 12 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and Bent Leuchten finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Leuchten, a 7-foot-1 center, had scored 23 points in each of the first two meetings against UCSD this season.

“I thought they wore him out,” Turner said. “It was a physical game and it did look like we tired.”

UCI has been the most consistently successful regular-season program in the Big West for more than a decade but has just two trips to the NCAA Tournament to show for it (2015, 2019).

The Anteaters have won the Big West regular-season title seven of the past 11 years and have 10 20-win seasons in 15 years under Turner, but the conference tournament has been their trouble spot.

UCI, the runner-up to UCSD in the regular season, has won just once in its past five appearances in the Big West championship game and was upset in the semifinals as the tournament’s top seed in 2023 and 2024.

In a matchup of the top two defensive teams in the Big West, the Tritons used a 10-0 run early in the second half to move ahead for good, 43-36.

Tillis tried to rally UCI and his drive to the basket cut the deficit to 52-49 with 9:24 left, but he and Hohn each missed 3-point tries that would have tied the score.

Leuchten then checked back into the game and Chris Howell stole the ball from him. After Myles Che came up short on a turnaround jumper in the key, Gray sank his fifth 3-pointer of the game to extend the lead to 55-49 with 6:56 to go.

Tillis answered with a 3-pointer, but Gray was left open for another 3-point attempt and he swished it for a 58-52 advantage with 5:18 left.

Che made two free throws to cut the deficit to four, but Nordin Kapic sank a corner 3-pointer out of a timeout, and Tyler McGhie beat the shot clock with another basket from behind the arc and the lead ballooned to 64-54 with 2:53 left.

“It looked to me like we ran out of gas a little bit,” said Turner, whose team shot 35% from the field for the night, compared to 49% for UCSD. “We didn’t have the same pop in the second half offensively as we did in the first half. Some of the credit for that has to go to San Diego.”

UCSD got off to a good start by taking an early 8-2 lead.

Hohn scored eight points in a two-minute span to move the Anteaters ahead 15-12, and UCI took its biggest lead of the game at 25-16 on a 3-pointer by Che with 7:39 left in the first half.

Gray then took over and scored eight points in a little more than two minutes to trim the lead to three and UCI eventually took a 33-31 lead into the locker room at halftime.

“Difficult night for us to come up short, that’s obvious, but I couldn’t be prouder of our team,” Turner said.

Given that the Big West hasn’t sent a second team to the NCAA Tournament since 2005, UCI is almost certainly headed to the 32-team NIT for the third straight season. That bracket will also be revealed Sunday.

“I don’t think there’s any chance that we’re going to be rewarded with an at-large bid (in the NCAA Tournament), and I think that’s a difficult reality that we face because we can’t get the type of games that they say they’re going to reward,” Turner said. “The system is not set up as it is now for mid-majors like us to be able to get an at-large bid without exceptional circumstances.

“We led the nation in road wins, we had 14 road wins. We had three wins on a neutral floor somewhere up in Canada against really good teams. We played a schedule that was as difficult as we could find. We could not get any more better games. We have to wait until it’s 2 a.m. at the bar to get anybody to agree to play with us.”