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SPORTS 10The Orange County Register COLLEGE IUC IRVINE: The Ant-eaters are outrebound-ed, 49-24. as UC SantaBarbara opens a big lead and then holds ondown the stretch.By JANIS CARRThe Orange County RegisterIRVINEOccassionally aplayer has an off-night. Shots don’t fall, rebounds aren’t grabbed, turnovers are made. It can happen to any player.But an entire basketball team ?UC Irvine showed it can happen Saturday in a 74-66 loss to UC Santa Barbara in a Big West Conference game in front of 2,180 at the Bren Center.The loss hurts the Anteaters (7-11, 4-4), who are fighting to stay in the Western Division race. The defeat leaves them tied with the Gauchos (7-11,4-4) for second behind Pacific (13-8, 6-2).Santa Barbara, which was picked to finish second in the division but started out slowly, losing four of its first five conference games, exploited any weakness they could find on Irvine. What worked best was pounding away on the Anteaters’ soft inside game, taking advantage of their inability to shoot and controlling the boards, especially on the offensive end.The Gauchos, who are averaging 35 rebounds, outrebounded Irvine, 49-24, and had 21 offensive boards compared to the Ant-eaters’ nine.“We knew they were a good rebounding team,’’ Irvine coach Pat Douglass said, “and they had 14 offensive boards at the half. That’s like when we played(Cal Poly) SLO where they had 11. That’s too many boards to give up and expect to win.” After a close first half — the teams were tied at 27 at the half — the Gauchos, who have won three games in a row, broke open the game with a 20-6 run early in the second half, building a 51-37 lead with 11:37 remaining.Santa Barbara’s lead swelled to 19 at 60-41 before Irvine showed a sign of a pulse. It w as mindful of last week’s loss against Long Beach when the Anteaters went scoreless for more than 13 minutes in the second half.“We had open shots, but the guys who could make their shots didn’t,” Douglass said.“Some of our guys played good defense, but when you don’t make your shots, it wears you down on defense.”It enabled the Gauchos to score at wrill for most of the second half. Santa Barbara let up late in the game, which allowed Irvine to play catch-up. The Anteaters posted a 15-4 run that cut the score to 68-61 with 1:10 left to play.“We shouldn’t have had to make a late run,” Irvine guard Lamarr Parker said. “We should have been in the game or up. We shouldn’t have had to come back.”Like so many other games this season, Irvine’s desperation run was too little too late. Especially the way Santa Barbara was shooting.“Lord, they shot it tonight,” Irvine guard Junior Bond said. “We could, too, but we were off. We were beyond off. I don’t think there is a word for that.”There is, but none that the Irvine coaching staff hadn’t already thought of themselves.“It’s disappointing,” Douglass said. “We felt comfortable going into the game and we kept (Gauchos guard Raymond) Tutt in check the first half. But he’s too good of a player not to get his points and he did in the second half.”Tutt, who had just five points in the first half, finished with a game-high 20 points, w hile Brandon Payton added 15 and B.J. Bunton had 12. Overall, the Gauchos shot 48 percent from the field; Irvine hit 43.Parker led the Anteaters with 19 points, 12 coming in the final two minutes. Adam Stetson added 12 before fouling out and Matt Willard and Bond each had 10.FGFTRebUC SANTA BARB.MinM-AM-AO-TAPfPtsWilliams214-51-21-3139Wallace353-70-05-14226Bunton326-80-02-32112Tutt■to5-149-122-42220Payton244-95-92-55315Merrill161-50-01-7002Bean161-20-01-1003Lynch113-40-04-6017Vukovich50-20-00-0010Totals20027-5615-2321-49121374Percentage*: FG 482 FT 652 3-Point Goal*: 5-10 (Williams 0-1. Tutt 1-3. Payton 2-3 Mernll 0-1. Bean 1-1. Lynch t-1) Team Rebound*: 6 Blocked *hots: 3 (Wallace 1 Bunion t. lynch 1) Turnovers: 19 (Wallace 4 Bunton 3, Tutt 3. Payton 3. Merrill 2, Bean 1. Lynch 2. Vukovich t (Steal*: 5 (Bunton 1, Tutt 2, Bean 1 Lynch 1 (Technic*! loul*: noneFGFTRebUC IRVINEMin M-AM-AO-TAPfPtsJackson21 3-60-03-43Q4-6Jones26 4-140-02-4008Robinson20 0-21-20-1021Parker28 8-130-10-11319Bond30 4-70-01-13210Flowers9 0-10-00-1230'Edmond16 0-20-00-1350Stetson27 4-122-22-41512Willard23 4-62-21-40010Totals200 27-675-79-2413 2266Percentages: FG 429. FT .714 3-Point Goals: 7-22 (Jones 0-5. Parker 3-6. Bond 2-2. Edmond 0-2, Stetson 2-71 Team Rebounds: 3 Blocked shots: 2 (Robinson 1. Edmond 1 (Turnovers: 9 Ijaekson 1, Jones 1 Parker 3. Bond 2. Edmond 1. Willard 1) Steals: 5 (Jackson i Bond 1. Flowers 2. Willard 1 (Technical fouls: none _________UC Santa Barbara 27 47 - 74UC Irvine 27 39 - 66Attendance: 2,180 Officials: Milt Stowe Carl Smith. Winston Smith MARKC 31-JAN-98 22 14
Newspaper Details
Santa Ana Orange County Register
Santa Ana, California, US
Sun, Feb 01, 1998
Page 62
Full Page
Clipped by
Decatur P.
IL, USA 16 Sep 2022
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