IRVINE — The first time the UC Irvine men’s basketball team played Long Beach State this season, it trailed by 10 in the second half and needed overtime to secure a win.

UCI didn’t need overtime this time in a comfortable 70-60 win over Long Beach State on Saturday at the Bren Events Center.

The Anteaters had four players score in double-figures and they led by as many as 18 points in the second half.

UCI (25-5 overall, 15-3 Big West) clinched at least a No. 2 seed in the upcoming Big West Tournament with the win. The top two seeds in the tournament receive byes into the semifinals.

Anteaters coach Russell Turner downplayed the significance of having byes in the conference tournament.

“The important thing is that you play well and you compete and find a way to win,” Turner said. “Having to do that on only two nights can be a trick if you think somehow that makes it easier. There’s nothing easy about trying to win a conference tournament.

UCI remains one game behind UC San Diego (26-4, 16-2) atop the Big West standings with two games remaining for both teams. The Anteaters are two games ahead of third place Cal State Northridge (21-8, 13-5) but own the tiebreaker over CSUN.

Long Beach (7-23, 3-15) was coming off a crushing buzzer-beater loss in overtime to Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday and has lost 13 consecutive games.

LBSU will not qualify for the eight-team conference tournament and will be absent from the event for the first time since 2004. Long Beach won the tournament last season and is the first team to win the tournament and fail to qualify for the event the following season.

Myles Che led UCI with 19 points with Justin Hohn and Jurian Dixon adding 14 and 10, respectively. Bent Leuchten had his third consecutive double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

The Anteaters controlled the game inside but Long Beach was able to stay in the game by making 6-of-14 3-pointers in the second half.

UCI outrebounded Long Beach 33-25 and had 36 points in the paint compared to 22 for LBSU.

“Long Beach dominated us on the boards in the first game and we got outplayed on the glass and in the paint,” Turner said. “I didn’t think that happened tonight. That was an appropriate response from my guys.”

Devin Askew was a bright spot for Long Beach Saturday just as he has been all season. He had a game-high 25 points and was 5-of-10 from 3-point range. It was the eleventh time this season Askew scored over 20 points and the second time he made five 3-pointers.

“I just love the fact that he’s figuring out how to play amidst the double teams and he’s also finding ways to get others involved,” Long Beach State coach Chris Acker said of Askew. “The fact that he’s still facilitating and getting others involved is the most impressive thing.”

UCI went on a 9-0 run over a two minute stretch in the first half where it made all four of its shot attempts and forced two turnovers to get out to a 24-13 lead.

The Anteaters made just 2-of-12 3-pointers in the first half but forced 10 turnovers on defense. 20 of UCI’s 32 points in the first half were in the paint and the Anteaters led 32-23 at halftime.

UCI made 13-of-14 free throws in the second half to keep Long Beach at arm’s length. Che converted 8-of-10 free throws and Hohn made all four of his free throw attempts.

Kam Martin scored six of his 10 points in the second half for LBSU and Austin Johnson grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.

Acker’s is wrapping up his first season as the head coach at Long Beach after being an assistant at San Diego State the last five seasons.

LBSU has struggled mightily this season, but the team has been competitive in losses this season. Long Beach has lost four of its last nine games by two points or fewer and has had three overtime losses during its losing streak.

“I’m excited about what we are building and what we are establishing,” Acker said. “If we can be in one or two point games, I know that we have a chance to win these games if we get more reps under our belt and get more comfortable with what we are trying to do.”

UCI wraps the regular season next week with games vs. UC Davis and UCSB.