Best, Ndiaye lead UC Irvine to 72-62 win over Cal Poly

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) Mike Best scored 19 on 8 of 13 shooting, and Mamadou Ndiaye added 13 points, six rebounds, two steals and four blocked shots to help UC Irvine beat Cal Poly 72-62 Thursday night.

Alex Young had 14 points and five assists, while Luke Nelson added 12 and six for UC Irvine, which won its third in a row.

Cal Poly (10-18, 4-11 Big West Conference) led 39-37 after a layup by David Nwaba with 16:48 to play, but Nelson sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around another by Young to spark a 12-0 run over the next 4 1/2 minutes and take the lead for good.

Trevor John hit a 3 with 10:20 left that trimmed the Mustangs' deficit to 51-49, but Best had a dunk and then made a layup and UC Irvine (23-8, 12-3) led by at least two possessions the rest of the way.

Nwaba scored a career-high 25 and added 10 rebounds for Cal Poly.