Men’s basketball: Green too much for the Lions

Richard Dunn

LOS ANGELES - It was Jerry Green’s world Wednesday night. The rest

of those in men’s basketball uniforms were just living in it.

After UC Irvine Coach Pat Douglass put his squad through a tough East

Coast tournament, the Anteaters returned to action on the West Coast and

warmed quickly while facing host Loyola Marymount.

Green scored 36 points and passed former All-American Kevin Magee for

fifth place on UCI’s career scoring list as the Anteaters defeated the

Lions, 71-59, in nonconference play.

“Tonight was the Jerry Green Show,” Loyola Marymount Coach Steve

Aggers said. “He’s just a very, very good basketball player. He’s

extremely smart, very experienced and they do a lot of things to get him

the ball. He played 38 minutes and got 36 points.

“We did a good job on everybody else,” he continued. “We shut down

Mike Hood, their leading three-point shooter. Usually it isn’t the case

when one player can beat you, but tonight that was the case.”

Green, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, scored 19 points in the first half as

Irvine built a comfortable 39-21 lead. Green’s fourth three-pointer of

the first half with :41 left capped a 26-8 scoring run for UCI and put

him in a tie with Magee at 1,475 points. Tod Murphy is UCI’s scoring

leader with 1,778 points.

Green, who scored a career-high 41 points in a double-overtime win

over Pepperdine last week, made 12 of 20 from the floor and 7 of 8 from

the foul line against LMU (2-3).

UCI (4-2) returned home late Monday night from the University Hoops

Classic in Moon Township, Pa., where it lost two of three games. But the

Anteaters came out with renewed vigor against LMU.

“When we were in Pittsburgh, I struggled a little bit,” Green said.

“But I just shoot and take what the defense gives you.”

Loyola Marymount shot just 25% (7 of 28) from the floor in the first

half, while finishing the game 0 of 9 from three-point territory.

“We’ve had five games in eight days, but I thought our kids were

really resilient, playing one of our best games tonight,” Douglass said.

“Jerry Green made it easy with his execution.”

After a 13-13 tie in the first half, Green nailed his second

three-pointer with 10:47 left to ignite UCI’s 26-8 run, which concluded

the half’s final 10 minutes. In the second half, Green scored on a short

jumper to complete a fast break with 5:15 remaining to give UCI its

biggest advantage of the game, 47-26. LMU chipped away at the lead, but

never came closer than 10 points.

“We knew we were going to play well because we had two good practices

since returning from our trip,” Green said. “That tournament (hosted by

Robert Morris College) showed us where we needed to improve.”

Adam Parada scored 11 points for UC Irvine, while Hood added five

assists and Green four assists.

Loyola Marymount was led by Andy Osborn (18 points), Keith Kincade

(13) and Charles Brown (11).

UCI shot 50% from the field (27 of 54), while the Lions were only

27.4% (17 of 62).