LOS ANGELES — The UC Irvine basketball team made an early-season statement with a strong defensive effort against Loyola Marymount on Friday night.

Andre Henry scored 17 points and Bent Leuchten had his first career double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds) to lead UCI to a 66-51 non-conference victory at LMU Gersten Pavilion. The Anteaters (2-0) took a 13-point lead over the Lions (1-1) in the first half, shooting 32%.

UCI shot 5-of-9 from beyond the arc in the first half while holding LMU to 1-of-6 to cruise to a wire-to-wire victory. By the end of the night, the Anteaters held a double-digit lead over the final 32 minutes, limiting the Lions to 33% shooting (20-for-60) and 27% from long range (7-for-26).

“I’m really excited to get out on the road and play defense at this level,” UCI coach Russell Turner said. “We set the tone with our focus and competitiveness and I thought this group could do it, but we haven’t seen that for a while. I give credit to Andre (Henry) for coming back from injury. To come back with a performance like he did in this game (5-for-7 from the field) is huge for us. I also thought Kyle Evans was outstanding at blocking shots and facilitating the offense for us.

“Bent (Leuchten) looked like a dominant man tonight and was by far the biggest man on the field. He played with balance and made big plays that strengthened our region. The overall performance of our team is really good.”

Devin Tillis had eight points and six rebounds for UCI, while Justin Hohn also scored eight points. Myles Che contributed six points and four assists, and Langston Redfield contributed five points, four rebounds and three assists.

Jevon Porter led LMU with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Jan Vide had 13 points and two steals, and Will Johnston had 12 points.