There's no place like home for the Irvine Vaqueros, who bounced back after a tough loss on the road last Monday. They secured a 56-52 W over University on Wednesday. That result was just more of the same for these two, as Irvine also won the last time the pair played back in January of 2023.
Irvine was led to victory by Cooper Stearns and Jaesang An. Stearns dropped a double-double on 14 points and 17 rebounds, while An scored 17 points. Taewon Kim was another key contributor, scoring 12 points.
University lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Shervin Moarrefian, who scored 15 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Christian Debarge, who scored 13 points along with seven rebounds.
The win got Irvine back to even at 10-10. As for University, they bumped their record down to 6-13 with that defeat, which was their third straight on the road.
Both squads are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Irvine will take on Woodbridge at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Woodbridge presents a significant challenge as they come into the match much higher ranked than Irvine in California (Woodbridge is ranked 128th, while Irvine is ranked 411th). As for University, they will look to defend their home court on Friday against Laguna Hills at 7:00 p.m. Laguna Hills is coming into the contest on a five-game losing streak.
