Men’s basketball: Anteaters begin with a bang

Amara Aguilar

BREN EVENTS CENTER - In the beginning, it was the end that counted.

The UC Irvine men’s basketball team began the season against Saint

Mary’s Friday in a nonconference game and used a strong finish to come

away with a 71-64 victory at the Bren Events Center.

UCI (1-0) went on a 20-7 run in the second half and made seven free

throws of eight attempts in the final five minutes of the game.

Going into the second half, UCI trailed, 32-28. Two minutes into the

second, the Anteaters began to show they were not ready to fall just yet.

UCI went on a 14-6 run within five minutes with Jordan Harris scoring 10

of those points to tie the score at 45 with 13:08 left.

UCI went down by six after that, but battled back to tie the score at

57 with 5:40 left.

Adam Parada made four free throws, Jerry Green made two and Mike Hood

made a three-pointer as the Anteaters scored the next nine points to take

a 66-57 lead.

The scoring run seemed to blur Saint Mary’s focus and the Anteaters

took advantage.

After Saint Mary’s Adam Caporn missed a free throw with 1:05 left,

Aras Baskauskas made a two-pointer and Parada hit a free throw to give

the Anteaters their biggest lead of the game, 71-61.

“(Saint Mary’s) shot well in the last seven minutes of the game and we

did the same,” UCI Coach Pat Douglass said. “I feel grateful that we were

able to move it up a notch.”

UCI made only 50% of its field goals in the first half (12-24) and did

not attempt any three-pointers. The team picked it up a bit in the

second, making 64% of its field goals (16-25) and making two

three-pointers. The Anteaters also made 81% of their free throws (9-11)

in the second.

Although the Anteaters showed their might in the second half, Saint

Mary’s began the game with a strong first half.

“I thought that (the Gaels) would come out and play hard, but I didn’t

think that they would shoot as well as they did,” Douglass said.

Saint Mary’s (0-1) trailed by as many as six points, but went on a

14-4 run to take a 30-24 lead with 1:05 left in the first half.

Matt Okoro made a field goal and Green made two free throws to cut

Saint Mary’s lead to 30-28. But Paul Marigney made a three-pointer just

before the buzzer to put the Gaels up by four points at halftime.

“I thought Saint Mary’s executed well on offense,” Douglass said.

“They shot well. We had good shots, we just didn’t convert. We had easy

shots in the first half, but we didn’t make those shots.”

Green was the top scorer for UCI with 22 points and five rebounds

followed by Harris, who had 18 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Parada chipped in with 13 points and five rebounds while Mike Hood had

eight points and four assists.

The Gaels were led by Marigney with 15 points and six rebounds,

followed by Ethnie Stubbs (13 points) and Teohn Conner (12 points).

UCI is 4-3 against Saint Mary’s in career matchups. Before Friday’s

game, the two schools faced each other last on Jan. 3. The Anteaters came

out on top, 57-37.The Anteaters face Pepperdine in a nonconference home

game Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.

“We feel we have a long ways to go,” Douglass said. “We are playing

more sophomores and have a ways to go as far as maturity. We need more

game experience.”