ANAHEIM, Calif. – Alex Young scored 18 points and UC Irvine closed the game on a 24-11 run to knock off top-seeded Long Beach State 67-60 Friday night in the semifinals of the Big West Conference tournament.
The fourth-seeded Anteaters (20-14) will meet the winner of Friday's other semifinal between No. 2 Pacific and No. 3 Cal Poly in the championship game on Saturday.
Irvine trailed 49-43 with 6:57 left in the game but got back-to-back 3-pointers from Travis Souza and Michael Wilder to start the game-ending run. Another 3 from Young at the 3:40 mark gave the Anteaters the lead for good, 54-53.
Will Davis II added 14 points and nine rebounds for Irvine, Chris McNealy scored 13 points and Starring had seven assists.
Long Beach State (19-13) got 15 points apiece from Tony Freeland and Keala King, 14 from Mike Caffey and 11 from James Ennis.
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