UT Rio Grande Valley rallies late to beat UC Irvine 73-59

Dec 10, 2017, 03:41 am

EDINBURG, Texas -- Nick Dixon scored 23 points with five rebounds, four assists and four steals as UT Rio Grande Valley rallied in the final nine minutes to beat UC Irvine 73-59 on Saturday night.

Dan Kimasa added 12 points for the Vaqueros (6-6) who trailed by 11 at intermission before outscoring UC Irvine 46-21 in the second half.

UC Irvine led 34-17 late in the first half and 38-27 at the break. But UTRGV opened the second half on a 13-4 surge, cutting the Anteaters (4-8) lead to 42-40 with 12:17 to play.

Max Hazzard answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to help stretch it to 50-42 with 9:50 left but UC Irvine scored only one field goal the rest of the game, allowing Kimasa, Dixon and Leslie Varner Jr. to lead the Vaqueros' comeback. Kimasa tied it at 52-all on a 3-point play and led the final 8-0 push to the final score.

Hazzard scored 16 points to lead the Anteaters who have lost three straight.