CHENEY - His stat line isn't overwhelming, but the imposing presence of 7-foot-6 Mamadou Ndiaye and his team's defense certainly is.

For the second time this season, UC Irvine held Eastern Washington to 33 percent shooting or less and went on to hand EWU its first home loss in four tries this season by a 70-61 score Sunday in a nonconference men's basketball game before a crowd of 911 at Reese Court.

Ndiaye made all five of his shots and finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and blocked four shots, but also altered several others and was a force in the paint. He entered the game ranked 10th in NCAA Division I with 32 total blocks for the season and 22nd with an average of 3.2 swats per game. He had 10 of the blocks in the first meeting against Eastern (5-4).

The result was a 33-percent shooting night for the Eagles, who stayed in the game thanks to nine 3-pointers made and the contributions of four Eagles in double figures. UC Irvine (6-5) also out-rebounded EWU 45-34 and out-scored EWU inside the paint 40-24.

Eastern had entered the game having made 48.5 percent of their shots for the season. In fact, Eastern has made 51 percent from the field in its six non-UCI games this season.

"We have been shooting really well, but you look at the two games we have played against these guys, they make it hard to put the ball in the basket," Eastern coach Jim Hayford said. "It is not just one guy. They play good team defense, and they have a lot of size. We needed to have a great shooting night to win and that didn't happen."

Luke Nelson scored 13 points off the bench to lead UC Irvine.

Sophomore guard Tyler Harvey led the Eagles with 15 points, and junior Parker Kelly had 13. Junior point guard Drew Brandon had 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists, and true freshman Ognjen Miljkovic came off the bench to finish with 12 points, five rebounds and three steals.

Eastern plays Seton Hall next Sunday in Newark, N.J.

UC IRVINE (6-5)

Davis II 4-7 4-6 12, Ndiaye 5-5 0-0 10, Young 3-13 2-4 8, Souza 2-5 0-0 6, McNealy 3-7 3-6 10, Martin 0-1 0-0 0, Nelson 5-5 1-2 13, Ryan 2-4 0-0 4, Wright 2-3 1-2 5, Best 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 27-55 11-20 70.

E. WASHINGTON (5-4)

Jois 2-9 3-8 7, Seiferth 1-6 0-2 2, Harvey 4-15 4-4 15, Kelly 4-7 2-2 13, Brandon 5-12 1-3 12, Miljkovic 5-14 0-0 12, Reuter 0-0 0-0 0, Von Hofe 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-63 10-19 61.

Halftime_E. Washington 31-29. 3-Point Goals_UC Irvine 5-14 (Nelson 2-2, Souza 2-5, McNealy 1-2, Martin 0-1, Young 0-4), E. Washington 9-27 (Kelly 3-6, Harvey 3-9, Miljkovic 2-7, Brandon 1-4, Jois 0-1). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_UC Irvine 45 (Ndiaye, Ryan 8), E. Washington 34 (Jois 9). Assists_UC Irvine 14 (Young 4), E. Washington 12 (Brandon 6). Total Fouls_UC Irvine 20, E. Washington 18. A_911.