Men’s basketball: Waves come crashing down

Amara Aguilar

BREN EVENTS CENTER - When the Waves of opportunity came, Jerry

Green took advantage.

The 6-3 senior guard had a career-high 41 points and made a critical

three-pointer with 6.7 seconds left in double overtime to lead the UC

Irvine men’s basketball team to a 96-93 nonconference victory over

visiting Pepperdine Tuesday.

“(Green) made a lot of clutch shots,” UCI Coach Pat Douglass said.

“Our kids never quit. They made clutch shots. We grew up a lot.”

Douglass’ words were right on. This game was all about clutch shots.

Not just for the Anteaters though.

Green made two free throws with 1:11 left in regulation to put UCI up,

74-71, but Pepperdine’s Devin Montgomery sank a clutch three-pointer with

50 seconds left to tie the score, 74-74.

Pepperdine had possession with 12 seconds left in the second half, but

Gary Colbert threw the ball out of bounds to send the game into overtime.

Pepperdine started off with some critical three-pointers in the first

overtime to build a lead.

“They buried some threes,” Douglass said. “It seemed like when we had

them, they buried their three-pointers.”

Craig Lewis made a three-pointer with 2:34 left in the first overtime

to give Pepperdine a 77-76 lead.

Jordan Harris answered with a three-pointer to put UCI up, 79-77, but

the Waves’ Terrance Johnson made a three-pointer and Montgomery made two

free throws of four attempt to give Pepperdine an 82-79 lead.

Then it was clutch time. With two seconds left, Mike Hood made a three

pointer to tie the score for UCI, 82-82, sending the game into double

overtime.

The score wast tied three times in the second overtime period. With 43

seconds left Green made a two-pointer to put the Anteaters up, 92-90.

Pepperdine’s Boomer Brazzle answered with a three pointer with 32.5

seconds left, but Green made a three-pointer to put UCI ahead, 95-93.

Harris made one of two free throws in the final seconds to seal the

win for UCI.

The Anteaters ended the game as they began it. “We couldn’t play much

better than we did in the first half,” Douglass said.

UC Irvine shot 66.7% from the field (14-21). Green had 14 first-half

points, followed by Mike Hood, who had 10 points in the first half.

Pepperdine made 40.6% of its shots (13-32) in the first.

The Waves held the lead for the first eight minutes of the game.

Stanislav Zuzak made a two-pointer to tie the score at 14, with 12:42

left in the first half.

J.R. Christ made another two-pointer to give UCI the lead, 16-14, with

11:49 left in the half. UCI retained the lead for the rest of the first

half, although the Waves came within one point four times. The Anteaters,

42-36 at halftime.

Pepperdine was trailing by seven points in the second half, but scored

six straight to cut UCI’s lead to 47-46. The Anteaters led by as many as

seven points after that, but the Waves came rolling back.

Terrance Johnson made a three-pointer with 3:56 left to bring

Pepperdine within one, 69-68. The Waves could not steal the lead from the

Anteaters and trailed until Montgomery’s three-pointer that tied the

score at 74.

“This game will give us some confidence,” Douglass said. “I thought

both teams went after it. (The Waves) presented athleticism that we

haven’t seen before.”

Montgomery had 17 points for the Waves, followed by Terrance Johnson

(16 points) and Jimmy Miggins (15 points, 14 rebounds).

The Anteaters were led by Green, who in addition to his 41 points made

13 of 15 free throw attempts and was four of five from the three-point

line. Jordan Harris scored 18 points and had seven rebounds. Adam Parada

(14 points, 13 rebounds) and Mike Hood (13 points, 3 three-pointers) were

also key players in the Anteaters’ victory.