Green Has Last Laugh, UCI Wins

The fans were mostly cheering against Jerry Green Tuesday, nothing too unusual, except this was UC Irvine’s home game. By the time Green was done, the outnumbered Anteater fans were the only ones left cheering.

Green was merely grinning ear-to-ear after handling that home-court disadvantage. He had scored 22 points, 16 in the final 12 minutes, to lead Irvine to an 82-75 victory over BYU in front of 1,763 mostly disappointed fans in Bren Center.

“It was time to stand up and get us going,” said Green, a 6-foot-3 freshman guard. “‘You can’t have people come in and do that to us here. We were playing at home.”

Not that you could tell. Then again, it didn’t exactly work against the Anteaters.

Green was able to offset a late charge by Silester Rivers, BYU’s 6-7, 230-pound forward. Rivers took his first shot with seven minutes left, then scored BYU’s next 16 points to nearly erase a 60-50 Anteater lead.

But Green began moving and shaking, like he did last year when he averaged 30 points per game at Pomona High. He hit a 10-foot jumper to give Irvine a 64-60 lead and scored six of Irvine’s next eight points to push the lead to 73-64.

“Jerry got into it,” said freshman guard Zamiro Bennem, who scored 14 points. “BYU had all those fans here. That really upset us. This is our house. That Anteater on the floor represents us.”

Bennem made that point clear to BYU fans, as he danced across the court afterward and pointed to the UCI on his jersey.

The Cougars couldn’t match his energy on the court either. Bennem was mainly responsible for shutting down BYU guard Mark Bigelow, who came in averaging 17 points, but was only three of 10 from the field and finished with 11 points.

“I’m really disappointed in our effort,” Coach Steve Cleveland said. “For 35 minutes, we didn’t have any enthusiasm. They were the hungry team. They wanted to win.”

Green certainly did.

His performance came on the heels of two freshmen-like efforts. Arizona’s Jason Terry had smothered Green, holding him to six points on Dec. 14. Green then missed seven of nine shots in a disappointing loss to James Madison Sunday.

“I have had confidence all my life, that’s what my parents have always told me,” Green said. “I’ve played eight [college] games now and I know what to do.”

Green made eight of 14 shots and also had four assists, one to forward Adam Stetson, who sank a three-pointer for a 67-60 Irvine lead. Green then hit a three-pointer, scored on a layup and was fouled--sinking the free throw--and fed Marek Ondera for a dunk on an inbounds play.

Irvine led, 75-66.

“He did make some big buckets, didn’t he?” Coach Pat Douglass said.

Douglass got something from his entire freshman class.

Bennem scored 11 of his points in the first half as the Anteaters built a 34-28 lead. Guard Gabe Cagwin scored eight points. Center Mark Gottschalk gave Irvine some presence inside, with seven points and five rebounds off the bench.

“We’re eight games into the season,” Bennem said. “I’m optimistic, but I think we know a lot right now. I do think we’re on pace.”

The Anteaters collapsed Sunday when James Madison switched to a zone defense, but they handled it better when BYU (4-7) tried the same ploy. Irvine had also been outrebounded, 52-27, by James Madison. Tuesday, Irvine had a 37-33 rebounding edge and allowed few second shots. Ondera had 10 rebounds.

“Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful,” Stetson said. “I loved every minute of it.”

Even if most of the fans didn’t.